“Usually people only keep the job for one year. Either it’s a...

“Usually people only keep the job for one year.  Either it’s a calling or you quit.  The pay is not good.  Less than $1000 a month.  And it’s very physical.  I’m supposed to dress, shower, and feed twelve seniors in 2.5 hours.  The schedule is so tight because it’s a business.  It can seem like the residents are boxes to be moved around.  But they’re not boxes.  They’re people.  I don’t think their families think about them.  They put them in a home and assume they’re safe, and well fed, and taken care of.  But they’re all sad. They’re numb.  Every day is the same thing.  When I first started working there, they wouldn’t really cooperate.  They just let me grab them without any participation.  But I’d always talk to them.  Ask them questions.  Joke with them.  Then one morning I had a fight at home, and was in a bad mood, so I worked in silence.  And all the seniors who had been so quiet,  began to ask me what was wrong.  That’s when I first realized how much they valued the attention I was giving them.  It’s been fifteen years now.  I have a lot of friends there.  But I’m forty-three already.  Recently I had surgery.  I’m not sure how many more years I’ll be able to do it.  But I try not to think about what will happen when I leave.”
(Madrid, Spain)