Plant a “seed of faith” in all those affected by DANA so that the problems “can be transformed into opportunities.” It is the ideal that he wanted to convey this Monday Gustavo Zerbinosurvivor of the tragedy of the Andes, during the conference organized by Mentes Expertas in the Valencian city itself, a presentation that has been produced in a special way with the aim of achieving thus sending a “message of hope” and raise funds for the victims of the disaster.
Although his particular tragedy occurred thousands of kilometers away from Spain, the survivor has narrated how he overcame the experience he had to live. when I was only 19 years oldfacts that he wants to serve as an example to all the Valencian people. Its story, in fact, is widely known. Zerbino, along with 44 other passengers, most of them from a rugby team, crashed in 1972 in the Andes when his plane was traveling from Uruguay to Chile. They were not rescued immediately but, faced with authorities who could not find them and who even suspended their search, those who survived the fall had to endure. up to 73 days in the open air of the famous Cordillera. Only 16 people finally came out of that alive, a story made into a film by Juan Antonio Bayona (The Snow Society2023).
“The magical secret is acceptance,” Zerbino began by explaining about the first moments of the tragedy: “When we fight with the mind we feel reality, but “When we travel with our hearts, we understand that we cannot change what happened, but we can learn from it.”. In this way, the survivor has narrated that in moments like these, whether in Valencia or in the Andes, the most important thing is to think about the future, as well as the solidarity of all those who are present: “The one who had a broken leg offered to walk and you, who had two legs, realized that it was you who had to do it.
“Today at ground zero, in Paiporta, I have met wonderful people. I have seen the solidarity of the Valencian people and the people of Spain. Volunteers from all over the world, from India, from Manchesterfrom Argentina, from Uruguay… It is wonderful to see how when people feel what is happening they want to get involved,” he expressed.
Through images, audios and scenes from Bayona’s film, Zerbino has been describing step by step the tragedy that he and his companions had to live through, to whom he has assured that carries “always in the heart” due to the unity, the sense of family and the lessons that everyone applied from minute one of the catastrophe: “We learned that when you are grateful, you grow, and that when you complain, you get worse.”
“In the Cordillera, being alive was a privilege”
“In that inhospitable place we learned to tune into unlimited potential. The mind only exists in two states, in the past, which you cannot change, and in the future, where we live trapped by frustration and fear. The only way to To achieve something is to turn off the mind. “Today they say that I am a happy person because I am alive and the reality is that in the mountain range being alive was already a privilege, because the normal thing was death,” He stated before saying that all the survivors of the plane crash built a world “where it was forbidden” to complain because that “did not change anything”, an aspect that he wants to be an example for Valencia.
“Today you are being a point of attention for the world,” he assured all the attendees who were at the Olympia Theater, where some, in fact, had come to listen to him from some of the towns most devastated by the passage of the DANA on October 29. “They will be able to communicate to their grandchildren and their families what is a great form of recovery and value. This place has been hit so that they come out stronger, so that they come out more enriched and to share a society that is more noble,” has defended in his conference.
“Our story is not a miracle nor does it have many miracles. It is not a tragedy nor does it have many tragedies. It is a story of love, vocation and service. Solidarity comes from everywhere and that is what we have seen in Valencia. “These are the embryos that make the world regain confidence instead of fighting over who has the problem,” he added.
In tragedy “each person’s potential was developed”
Zerbino, who after the tragedy has dedicated himself to being a businessman, a sports leader and working with numerous organizations, explained that, despite his resume, the most notable thing he has experienced has been the months in the Andes, where “each person’s potential was developed.” In a catastrophe, he says, what you have to do is “want to do something with passion and energy.”
“Then you have to believe that you can do it and then you have to do it. The important thing about all of this is the actions. You have to trust the limits of the mind. Furthermore, Learning to accept pain and move through it is what gives you light in the darkness,” has indicated.
From his story in the Andes, the survivor has mainly highlighted two moments. One of them occurred when one of his companions managed to climb the mountain and listen, on the radiothat the authorities had suspended the search after several weeks faced with the complicated possibility that they were alive: “Whoever could hear that said ‘I have two news: the bad news is that the search has been suspended, the good news is that living or dying depends on us.'”
The second of those moments occurred precisely after that, when, faced with the helplessness of dying there, he and two other companions managed to climb a mountain for more than a day and a half without sleeping, without shoes and without eating. All with the aim of seeing what was on the other side: “We had nothing to lose because we were already dead. You had to try the impossible. When I was walking I realized that it was not me doing it, but a greater energy. “The capacity of the human being is unlimited.”
The rewards after returning from the Andes
Zerbino has also had a moment to celebrate “the reward” that his family received after the tragedyin which he devoted himself and with whom years later he made an excursion to Aconcagua to pay tribute to his entire group of deceased companions. He has also pointed out important world figures, such as Nelson Mandela or Maria Teresa of Calcuttaof which he highlighted that they encouraged “unity and hope.” For this reason, he has expressed that the most important thing now in Valencia is to “honor life.”
“In the face of problems we feel fear, anguish, loneliness, abandonment and helplessness and all of that paralyzes us because we were victims. The truth is that we in the Cordillera were victims only one night, because then we said ‘no more’. We were there to solve problems; you have to accept them and go through them. There we are being 100% responsible and committed, like the people who today help remove mud or bring toilet paper,” He assured, highlighting the fact that this has occurred, precisely, in Valencia: “That gives freedom, security and power. At ground zero today I met people who were precisely very grateful to live and who cried for it.”
“Build environments free of complaints,” he told the attendees: “Our story is a love story and that family group, that club and that neighborhood will be very different if it is celebrated and shared and also if proposals, plans and solutions are accepted”.
“We are all a little stone to build a great wall,” Zerbino also stated, who wanted to conclude with the phrase of another of his fellow survivors: “Do not complain about what you lack and be grateful for what you have leftbut never stop fighting for what you want.”
After the public’s applause, one of the affected residents of Paiporta, Jorge, shared his experience at DANA. As he has narrated, he spent more than six hours up a tree: “I saw a lot of people pass in front of me and I couldn’t help them. Now, I’m missing hands and I’m missing everything.”but when I see that people come to help us I get excited and now I understand them, because I have been a survivor for six hours and I can’t imagine what it is like to be a survivor for 73 days.” Similarly, another affected person, José, has taken the microphone to thank Zerbino for his presentation and send a message of hope: “You said that you came out because you were Uruguayans, we will go out because we are Valencians.”
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