A tale to honor Grandma Carme

Courage, energy, fun, cooperation, shrewdness, gratitude, admiration... These are some of the terms that are intertwined throughout the story The grandmother has a lot of energy (Editorial Octaedro) with the energy that Carme Puxan, the protagonist of the story, carries throughout her journey in Ecuador. The book, written by her son, Francesc Balagué, illustrated by Joana Bruna, and available since April at Joanabruna.com, tells the adventures of the grandmother of Luka, 12 years old, and Kael, 9 years old, who also appear in the story.

In fact, what served as the spark for Balagué to consider writing the book was an observation that Kael made three years ago returning from school, accompanied by his brother and grandmother. At that moment, the little one asked Carme: "Grandma, isn't it true that old people don't have strength anymore, they walk hunched over like this and need a cane?"; a cliché that, in the story, the grandmother tries to dismantle by telling her grandchildren about the trip she had taken as a volunteer in Ecuador a couple of years earlier. She began by telling them about the fifteen-hour flight from Barcelona to Quito, the subsequent eleven-hour bus journey – during which a tire went flat and all the passengers had to help push it – and the four-hour walk to the village.

Example of vitality

In the book, Carme also explains to Luka and Kael how she helped fix the roof of the village school or rescue animals during the floods caused by three days of continuous rain. A host of adventures in which the grandmother highlights her vitality and problem-solving skills, far from the image of a helpless person her young grandson had initially described. This brief story, besides demonstrating that “strength, courage, and wisdom know no age” –as its creators point out–, seeks to pay tribute to the figure of grandmothers, who are essential to the family unit.

Carme, in particular, takes care of her two grandchildren two days a week: she picks them up from school, they go to the park together, have a snack, and then, at their grandmother's house, they read and play until their parents pick them up. “We also spend the weekend in La Llacuna, where she lives, so my mother's bond with Luka and Kael is very close,” explains Balagué. “For them, Grandma is very important,” she adds. But this 73-year-old grandmother not only looks after her grandchildren but also goes for a daily walk with her friends at 7:30 AM, collaborates with social organizations in the municipality, and as a volunteer, she has been to Bolivia, Sahrawi camps, and Ecuador. A facet, that of volunteering, in which Carme involves the grandchildren, convinced that “it will help them become more aware and sensitive adults towards vulnerability and solidarity”.

Living history

“Beyond their help with logistics, we want to highlight the role that grandmothers play as transmitters of knowledge; they are living history”, points out, on the other hand, Joana Bruna, illustrator of the story and kindergarten teacher. Bruna was a teacher to both Luka and Kael, and is very aware of the role that grandfathers, but especially grandmothers, play in the lives of their grandchildren. Regardless of their “absolute availability”, grandmothers become “a source of inspiration and learning that cannot be found anywhere else”, emphasizes Bruna, who from minute zero was captivated by the story that Balagué presented to her. A story in which the grandmother is much more than an endearing character. And it is that, “even though their role often goes unnoticed or is not sufficiently recognized, they are a key piece in the daily lives of thousands of homes”, concludes Bruna.