altruists

SU
CASA
Asking for nothing in return, a Spanish family
has for more than 40 years opened its doors
to strangers from around the world.
Photography: Name goes here

I
Story Koren Helbig

stand at the nondescript door of a house

in suburban Madrid. I prod the buzzer
and am ushered into a humble but
enchanting home in which I am
welcome to stay free of charge, for
Words: Name goes here

a week, a month, or even a year, if

I choose. I am not the first to benefit from this.
The story of Antonio Mas and Maria Sols
generosity began 42 years ago. As the scorching
Spanish summer of 1972 drew to a close, the first

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altruists

Spanish mission (inset, L-R) Antonio Mas and Maria Sol

with daughter Mercedes in 2009; German Scout Rolf, who
was their first house guest in 1972; Maria (right) with Queen
Sofa, 1987; a guest room in Antonio and Marias house; the
familys building in Chamartn; Maria today; and (main picture)
the city of Madrid; (opening page) a Madrid street scene.

of their 70-plus lodgers arrived in Chamartn, in

Madrids northern suburbs. He was a big German
Scout known only as Rolf, whose attempt to cycle
solo around the world had been halted by illness.
Unable to speak Spanish, and knowing no-one
in the Spanish capital, Rolf went to the nearest
Scouts organisation for help. Here, he found
two youngsters who spoke some German. Little
Mercedes Mas, 14, and her younger brother
Javier, 13, were two of Antonio and Marias
three children. They brought Rolf home and their
mother put him to bed before calling the doctor.
Four decades later, the hospitality of Maria and
Antonio extends to me, a 29-year-old itinerant
Queenslander. It has happened quite by chance.
I had been standing in a Madrid back street,
gobbling a tostada smothered in goats cheese and
jam, when a pigeon dived onto the head of a chap
beside me. It was an odd conversation starter but,
as Carmelo Scavone, a 22-year-old Italian student,
and I started chatting, he told me about an elderly
couple who had given him free lodging.
Scavone had needed somewhere to bunk down
when he first arrived in Madrid as an Erasmus
university exchange student. One evening, Maria
Sols granddaughter Irene wandered into the
Milan bar where Scavone worked and the two
struck up a conversation. She invited him to stay
with her grandparents in Madrid and, before long,
his Spanish accommodation was sorted. Scavone
stayed for ten days and would be the last lodger
to meet Antonio, who died in July last year.
The young Italian was deeply touched by the
couples generosity yet, like many before him, had
struggled to understand how they could welcome
outsiders into their home seemingly without a trace
of apprehension. How can you give your house
keys to a stranger? he had asked Antonio one
night. Although by then 82 and gravely ill, with
Alzheimers and a crippling back injury, Antonio told
Scavone that each lodger was trusted by the couple
simply because they had been referred by a relative, public lives, often invited to major social events refugee (Jorge Carazas), two lively Italians,
or a friend of a friend. That was enough. also attended by Queen Sofa of Spain. a charismatic Mexican, and an Englishman so tall
But at home, they lived simply and were he stooped to hold young Javiers hand as they
Antonio Mas was an intelligent man, inspired by the almost childlike, free-spirited crossed the street. Maria once met a Japanese man
fluent in five languages. He was born in Barcelona approach to the world of Maria von Trapp, who was not sure how to get to Toledo, 70km
in 1931 and met Maria in 1955, when they were governess to seven children in the 1959 film The south, so she invited him home for lunch before
university students in Madrid. The couple married Sound of Music. The couple also wanted a huge Antonio drove him to the historic city. For the
four years later and settled into life on the citys family surrounded by music, laughter and learning. children it became a game, trying to outdo each
northern outskirts, in Chamartns charming Marques But, with only three children of their own, they other in the number of strangers theyd bring home.
de Santillana street. They shared a passion for lived their dream by inviting in the outside world. Even long after the children moved out and
books, he as an editor who helped establish a string Over the years the family has welcomed the couple began to struggle with health problems,
of bookshops, she as a childrens literature reviewer a Taiwanese guitarist, a Tunisian teenager who the steady stream of visitors continued. In fact,
for a national newspaper. They led distinguished stayed for three summers, a Colombian political the long line of lodgers became a kind of coping

strategy, a welcome distraction as Antonio grew
increasingly unwell.
By the time I meet Maria, after a brief email
exchange, her husband has died. She is still
grieving his loss, but welcomes me into her
home with a warmth usually reserved for lifelong
friends. On our first day we take supper in a small
room tinged orange by stained glass windows.
We sit at a wooden table flanked by practical
benches that can easily seat ten, and have done
many times over the years. Maria sprinkles salt
on her tomatoes but the shaker lid is loose and the
entire container empties onto her plate. Moments
later she knocks her glass, spilling water onto
a plate of cheese. Maria says nothing, but lowers
her head slowly into shaking hands. It is a gesture
that speaks of her suffering, her sorrow at losing
a man who had stood by her side for more than
half a century.
But Maria is comforted, too, by the couples
previous lodgers, whose condolence notes from
around the globe serve as bright little life-rafts
amid her waves of grief.
On my second day, Marias oldest child,
Mercedes, 53, a mother of two who lives in Milan
and coordinates volunteers for a non-government
WE HAVE
MADE MANY
FRIENDS AND
NOW WE, TOO,
HAVE A PLACE
TO STAY IN
MANY OTHER
COUNTRIES.
organisation, has come to visit, and I ask her
about her familys generosity. She challenges
the notion of altruism, instead suggesting her
family also gained enormously through years
of welcoming strangers.
We have learnt five languages, how to play
musical instruments and so many other things,
[such as] cooking and recipes, Mercedes says.
We have made many friends and we have a place
to stay in so many countries around the world.
We have opened our eyes. It has brought
the world to us and it makes us feel good
about ourselves. l
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