Jorge Hernández, president of Yrichen and parish priest in the Arciprestazgo de La Isleta, welcomes his appointment as adoptive son of Gran Canaria by the island council with enthusiasm and respect. The native of La Palma has been recognized for his work in the fight against addictions, which he started in the La Pardilla neighborhood of Telde, as well as for his involvement in Church initiatives such as solidarity kitchens.
What does it mean to you to be appointed son adoptive from Gran Canaria?
Sometimes it worries me because an island, which is the one that adopts me, puts its honor at stake with me and that is a great responsibility. Being able to respond not only to what one has done but also to what one can continue to do in the future is fundamental and I live it with great gratitude. Somehow they trust what I can do because one is not a son for a while, but a son for life.
When did you arrive on the island of Gran Canaria?
I arrived from La Palma around the year 1975 to study Teaching and Theology. I studied these two careers and I was very passionate about Theology because for me it was a great innovation, a new perspective and, although I had already studied it in Tenerife, great doors opened for me here with unknown authors and who made me passionate about this field. in the Theological Center, as we used to call it.
How did you get started in your profession as a parish priest?
After completing my military service and having finished Theology, my dear Bishop Ramón Echarrén appointed me Youth Delegate for the Diocese. I was working there and, when three years had passed, I was ordained in 1984 as a priest. I was there for another year and then they sent me as parish priest to La Pardilla, to the parish of San Isidro, and to Marquepeña and La Garita.
At what point do you decide that it is necessary to start providing help to combat addictions?
Yrichen was born in 1989. I already noticed the drug problem when I was a youth pastor, but at the same time we began to see in the neighborhood that the reality of drugs had done a lot of damage, many families were going through real ordeals at a time when heroin, fundamentally , began to wreak havoc. I have always said that it is reality that has to lead us to discover what God wants and we began to think about caring for people with addiction problems in the neighborhood. That began as a group of friends who tried to respond as best as possible, learning to work because we had no idea, and from there we started to work. The late motivation of the church is that the look of reality has to help us discover what we have to do, I have always said that we have to have one ear listening to what is happening around us and the other discovering what God asks of us. and the gospel. The people I have been surrounding myself with also influence this because this is not done by just one person, that is impossible, but rather a group of people who are committed to it.
“If there is a neighborhood that deserves an award for its solidarity with addictions, that is La Pardilla”
How many people started and how many are there today?
The group that we started were four or five volunteers, we were Miguel, Inma, Saro… We started to build and do some little things, but this has been growing. At the moment we are more than 60 workers with about 80 volunteers and it has been growing only according to the needs. This has also started because reality was pressing us, as well as the pain of the people, of the families, of the mothers… That was terrible and when they ask us for help for their children it always kills me. I remember some parents who said that drugs are the cancer of families because they often destroy them. It is an incredible pain and impotence that these parents have in the face of reality. When they gave us the Reina Sofía award, we told him that Yrichen is born because pain and suffering are born and we have hope. That continues to be something that motivates Yrichen, because we are concerned about the most impoverished, those who are suffering the worst, and we never want to lose sight of the fact that these are the people to whom we want to dedicate our lives and our time.
How were the neighborhood residents involved?
La Pardilla was an exemplary neighborhood, with some exceptions that are not even worth naming, which saw circulation through its square from 1989 to 2003, using the basements of the parish, an incredible service was provided and the neighborhood was supportive in such a way that our center, the people and the boys and girls who were here were involved in the parties and activities trying to collaborate. Just as in other areas it happened that in the Peninsula the news was the protests of the neighbors, here there were no protests. Neighbors and young people got involved and it was very nice to see how people helped. I remember that if we needed anything, you would take out the loudspeaker in the church and people would come to help, they would bring their guitars… Many times I said that if there was a neighborhood that deserved an award for its solidarity in terms of addictions, it was the neighborhood of La Pardilla, who assumed from the cellars of his church a responsibility that had not been shown in this way anywhere else in Spain.
Over the years they managed to open this center to develop their work. How does this influence the development of activities?
This center has allowed us to improve, be much more efficient, it has made us better care for people and it is a welcoming place. It is an envy resource in the Canary Islands but, equally, this space is being relocated because we have resources in Jinámar, in the Tablero de Maspalomas, we have spaces in the southern prison, because that helps to provide closeness and direct attention to people In the spaces where they are, we even have a mobile venue and we want it to be a place in motion so that Yrichen adapts to people and not people to Yrichen. This has also led us to discover that we have to work from a gender perspective. Many times we have realized that we have made a center at first very focused on men. The entire center has been trained, from the person who cleans up to the president of the board of trustees, we have given them training and training in gender matters, which invites us to respond to new needs. We have to see that reality always transforms us and I am one more walker.
“I am here because the most impoverished have supported me and I never want to forget that”
What are the new realities that arise?
The key is that we have been adapting to new needs. New addictions appear that have to do with substances, without substances, all new phenomena and we have been able to respond to this. I am here because the most impoverished have supported me and I never want to forget that because I can be wrong. I use a phrase from the Gospel of Jesus, which I think is fundamental and is: useless servant, you have done what you had to do. I have done what I had to do and the one who has to reward me in the end is him. The first time they named me Telde’s adoptive son, my mother asked me: Have I treated you so badly, my son, that they have to adopt you on that Island?
Apart from the foundation, he has also been involved in other solidarity initiatives. Can you name some of them?
In all the parishes I have been to, I have tried to get involved in working with the people, so if there is something that seems key to me, it is that when you arrive at a place, the most important thing is to be aware of what is happening. God does not call you or appear to you, I do not believe in apparitions. God speaks in life, what you have to be very aware of. Indifference to human pain is one of the most serious problems that exist in society today, a scandalously unequal society, where the cry of the most disadvantaged has to make you work. The street destroys people and mental illness phenomena are taking place. We have to make an effort to promote integration.
