The retired plumber from a Malaga village who travelled to Africa to build a well

Retirement does not always have to mean a rest and it often means a change of life that includes charity work, which people have more time for once they have stopped working. Francisco Martín, known as Paco 'el Cubano', a retired plumber from the Canillas de Acetiuno in the east of Malaga province, knew that once he had finished his working life in his own village, he would spend his time doing charity work. For this reason, he joined the Contagia Solidaridad association in Arriate to help with what he knows best: plumbing.

Paco travelled to Equatorial Guinea to start channelling water from a well, built last year, to a tank to supply water to the inhabitants of the village of Mebere. The well will save them from travelling three kilometres to fetch water from a river, a task entrusted to the local children, who can now use the taps in their village.

Paco 'el Cubano' is already back in Canillas de Aceituno and says, "We are tired but with the satisfaction of the work we have done. We have given ourselves unreservedly, from the heart and now we are returning to our reality, to our day-to-day life in Spain, but something of us remains in this land, which hopefully one day will be able to improve its situation of poverty," he said.

Paco 'el Cubano' took advantage of his arrival in Canillas de Aceituno to remind his neighbours that "every little helps and that it will be well received, not only to maintain this well of life, but also to help in the hospital built a few years ago in Nson Msomo, where the volunteer health team has carried out around 250 consultations with patients with different illnesses, 114 of whom have undergone surgery".

The mayor of Canillas de Aceituno, Vicente Campos, expressed his gratitude on behalf of the residents of the Axarquía village "for this great gesture of solidarity from one of our own, a sign of the great heart and courage of this village, which is always there where it is needed".

"Attitudes like Paco's make us proud as people concerned about the situations of poverty and inequality experienced in other places more or less close to us," said the mayor in a statement.