¿Puedes ayudarme?

Over the summer, I was helping out at a daycare when my supervisor called me out to the entrance door. I saw a man standing outside; he looked tired and worn out as if he hadn’t slept or eaten for days. My supervisor said she wasn’t able to communicate with him, and asked if I could be so kind as to try to find out what he wanted (he only spoke Spanish). I had not taken Spanish for over a year, but decided to give it a shot.

As I spoke to him in my broken Spanish, I learned that he was from Ecuador and had traveled by boat to America and had no money on him nor food, and he needed to find his friend. I felt sorry for him since he was in a foreign country for only a couple of days and had no way of contacting his friend, for he didn’t have an address nor a phone number, only a mere train stop name. I called back my supervisor and explained the situation to her, and she walked back inside and came back to the door with bananas and a Metrocard. I translated for her saying that she wished him the best and that he have a safe journey finding his friend.

As scared as I was, I knew I should do more, and I offered to walk him to the train and teach him how to get there. When we arrived at the train station, I taught him how many stops to take to get to his friend’s neighborhood and how to use the Metrocard. He looked at me with gratitude and took both of my hands, and said “Muchas gracias” multiple times. I was glad that I contributed to helping this man find his friend, and in the process, practiced my Spanish skills for a good cause.