'We are not aware of what it is like to live on the streets'

"We are not aware of what it is like to live on the streets," says María José Cubell. "People always tend to judge them." 

She is one of the 138 volunteers who took part in the sixth homeless count in Tarragona on Tuesday night.

The volunteers, grouped in teams of three or four people, traveled through the city, while members of the Civil Protection Volunteers Association, the Red Cross, and local police did likewise in other teams.

The aim of the project is to record where people spend the night, as well as other parameters, such as whether they are men or women. "It will be useful for making decisions," assured local councillor Cecilia Mangini.

The volunteers gathered at the gates of Tarragona City Hall shortly before 11 pm, from where they set off combing through the streets of the city.

With the map in hand, Margarita, María José, Joan and Enzo searched the streets and squares of the Part Alta to see if they could find people living on the street.

Joan Boada, from Altafulla, is participating in the count for the second time and says he wants to continue doing it for many more years. "It is a very positive experience, you are with people with similar concerns, it is one day a year that if you can lend a hand, it costs nothing," he explained.

After more than an hour of walking through the Part Alta, they found about six homeless people in regular spots. "We tried not to disturb them, being as little intrusive as possible," Boada said. "We did a quick check to see if they were women or men, if they were naked or not, or if they were accompanied by pets."

Margarita Mardones is a volunteer with Càritas and has been participating in this initiative for three years. "The experience is very good and very rewarding because you are doing something that helps society." She added that "it also has a big impact because you don't always find that person who has been drinking, who is old, but sometimes you find young people."

In these three years, she says she has seen a similar profile of homeless people. "I found people who could be my children, 18 and 19 years old, very young people, who don't have a drinking or drug problem but other issues," she said.

She believes that the role of volunteers in improving society is very important. "It's quite exciting to see so many people get involved," she said. "Hopefully there are more of us every year."

Meanwhile, Cubell started volunteering when she was 18, and now at 64, she hopes to retire from her work life soon so she can get more involved in the volunteering. "I want to dedicate myself to helping more because it fills me up," she said.

She also laments the stigmas suffered by people living on the streets and assures that anyone with similar circumstances could end up there. "Anyone you see on the street begging, people always tend to judge them, and we don't know what life they've had or what brought them here, you can't judge them," she said.

The count identified 84 people sleeping on the street in total. Of these, 44 are men, 9 are women and 13 could not be identified.

The figure is "slightly lower" than last year, when 91 people were found sleeping on the street. 18 people have also been counted who slept in a hostel last night.