Arucas Puerta Norte Episodio 12

Episode 12. Fela: wisdom and words

Fela Guedes was born and has lived all her life on the mountain of Arucas. From this vantage point she raised her children and has watched her grandchildren and great-grandchildren grow up. She is a warm and cheerful person, and in her stories, she always reminds us of happy moments of her childhood and youth in Arucas. In this episode she introduces us to the Casa de la Cultura, a place where she says her life changed radically when she started being part of the literary group Labrantes de la Palabra.

Labrantes de la Palabra is a project that has been linked to the Municipal Library of Arucas for almost 20 years, but it is much more than that. It is a group of seniors from the municipality of Arucas who, through storytelling and stories that have to do with the past and with memory, make both children and adults accomplices of this vital experience. Fela Guedes is one of the members of the group who have participated in numerous events related to storytelling, both in the Canary Islands and on the mainland of Spain, under the direction of professional storytellers such as Antonio López and Yolanda Ortega..

‘Being a member of Labrantes de la Palabra has given me the greatest joy because it enriches my life. I have found another family, which is not of my blood. We talk to each other and we feel useful. Labrantes de la Palabra has given me life. I really mean it, not only to me, but to all of us who are here. It has helped me to live’.

Fela tells us of an Arucas of which she feels proud, of an historic centre, with its changes, but which maintains the essence that she experienced when she was a child. Corners full of stories, streets where they walked to fall in love, craters where they played football or went hiking. She proudly recalls the figure of her companion ‘Amparito’, the undisputed reference of the Labrantes de la Palabra project. They have left their mark on our history and our collective memory. .

We put a temporary halt to Arucas Puerta Norte project , at least after its first two seasons, and we thank Fela for her invaluable participation, her time and above all the passion, wisdom and dedication she shows every time she tells us one of her stories, or makes us accomplices of her own experience, improving the collective memory and disseminating the signs of identity of our culture. Good luck and good health to Labrantes de la Palabra of Arucas.