Alvin and Jean Witten began their journey on the Camino Francés, the most famous route of the Camino de Santiago network, on September 3rd in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France. This report is based on a series of diary entries shared by Alvin.
During the pilgrimage, Alvin told IOL that the Camino had long been on their wish list. He noted that people walk for spiritual reasons, self-discovery, or simply for adventure, but they wanted to give this hike a deeper meaning.
The Camino Francés is a historic path leading to Santiago and the shrine of Saint James. For Alvin and Jean, faith and the pleasure of walking together combine with a call to the community far from Spain.
Jean is personally familiar with the work of the charity organization. She told IOL that she belongs to the Happy Hands group, which knits squares and makes knitted blankets. This group supplies blankets to Masithandane—an organization that cares for children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly in the Sedgfield area, providing them with medical and food support.
The Camino's call names this organization as the main beneficiary, allowing funds to go where the community needs it most. For Alvin, the needs of children remind him of his own childhood, when he grew up in a family where his self-employed father could not always provide for the family. He recalls going to school hungry and waiting for the first break when the meal plan provided a 'jam sandwich and milk.' In winter, it could be soup and bread.
He shares with IOL: 'We knew poverty. We knew pride. And we learned to cope with very little.' His parents told him: 'Don't worry, my child. God will provide.' Seeing the current difficulties of children, he connects this to his hike: 'And the hard thing is, it's not history. It's happening today.'