LEADERS LÍDERES

JOHN DELGADO, THE MAN WHO CAMPED IN HIS YARD TO AVOID INFECTING HIS FAMILY. JOHN DELGADO, EL HOMBRE QUE ACAMPÓ EN SU PATIO PARA EVITAR INFECTAR A SU FAMILIA.. QUARANTINED IN YOUR GARDEN ANOTHER WAY TO PROTECT YOUR FAMILY LÍDERES

He has three children, a two-yearold grandson, a wife with heart problems and an 84-year-old mother-in-law who suffers from Alzheimer's. They all live together in the same house with a pool, except for John Delgado, a Farm Share food bank employee, who has been camping out in the yard for weeks without being able to hug his family for pure responsibility. "I'd rather take this on to keep my family safe," he told the Miami Herald. "I can't make my family sick. I have too much to lose."

It's nothing exceptional, he said. Neither his decision to camp out to protect his family nor his involvement with a charity that provides free food to thousands of people seems heroic to him.

At the end of the day, it's our choices that make us who we are.

A FORMER GANG MEMBER

Born in New Jersey, but raised in Liberty City, Miami, John Delgado spent his youth running with gangs. He was shot up to five times, nearly died and

ENGLISH

ended up in a maximum-security prison. When he got out, he took another course in life.

John Delgado has been working for food banks for more than a decade, and before that, he was handing out needles to people with drug problems and condoms to HIV patients, as well as distributing bags of food to the homeless. PART OF THE SOLUTION

A few weeks ago, when John was taking a flight back from Jacksonville, where he had traveled for work, the stewardess passed by him coughing and a passenger whispered to his companion that she might be infected with the coronavirus.

The thought stuck in his head. He arrived home, called his wife and told her to open the back door.

Then he undressed, put his clothes in a garbage bag and took a shower with the hose from the yard.

Over dinner that night, he thought that if he was going to keep going to work and "be part of the solution," he had to find a way not to endanger his family.

The next day, he announced to Barbie, his wife, that he was going to sleep in a tent until the pandemic was over. She became enraged and scared, begged him to resigned But John wasn't about to quit. "I have to work or my family will be the one waiting for food," he concluded.

Today, food deliveries have increased, layoffs and business closures have also increased. Miami-Dade County has become an epicenter of the pandemic with more tha 9,354 infected in a state that in the last few hours has already registered more than 26,306 cases.

“No puedo enfermar a mi familia. Tengo demasiado que perder”. "I can't make my family sick.

I have too much to lose."

ESPAÑOL

Tiene tres hijos, un nieto de dos años, una mujer con problemas cardíacos y una suegra de 84 años que padece Alzheimer. Todos viven juntos en la misma casa con piscina, menos John Delgado, empleado del banco de alimentos Farm Share, que lleva semanas acampado en el patio sin poder abrazar a los suyos. Por pura responsabilidad.

“Prefiero asumir esto para mantener a mi familia segura”, le explica a Miami Herald. “No puedo enfermar a mi familia. Tengo demasiado que perder”.

No es nada excepcional, dice. Ni su decisión de acampar fuera para proteger a su familia ni su desempeño en esta organización benéfica que surte de alimentos gratuitos a miles de personas le parece heroico.

A fin de cuentas, son nuestras decisiones las que nos hacen ser quienes somos.

UN ANTIGUO PANDILLERO

Nacido en Nueva Jersey, pero criado en Liberty City (Miami), John Delgado pasó su juventud corriendo con pandillas. Fue abaleado hasta en cinco ocasiones, estuvo a punto de morir y acabó en una prisión de máxima seguridad.

Cuando salió, tomó otro rumbo vital.

Lleva trabajando para bancos de alimentos más de una década y antes de eso repartía agujas a a personas con problemas de drogadicción y preservativos a pacientes con VIH, y también distribuía bolsas de alimentos a personas sin hogar.

PARTE DE LA SOLUCIÓN

Hace unas semanas, cuando John tomaba su vuelo de regreso de Jacksonville, donde había viajado por trabajo, la azafata pasó junto a él tosiendo

Photo by John Delgado. Miami Herald.

y un pasajero le susurró a su acompañante que quizás tenía coronavirus.

A él se le quedó la idea fija en la cabeza. Llegó a su casa, llamó a su esposa y le dijo que abriera la puerta trasera.

Luego se desnudó, metió su ropa en una bolsa de basura y se duchó con la manguera del patio.

Durante la cena de esa noche, pensó que si iba a seguir yendo a trabajar y “ser parte de la solución”, debía encontrar la forma de no poner en peligro a su familia.

Al día siguiente, le anunció a Barbie, su esposa, que iba a dormir en una tienda de campaña hasta que acabase la pandemia. Ella se enfureció y se asustó, le rogó que cambiase de trabajo.

Pero John no pensaba renunciar.

“Tengo que trabajar o mi familia será la que esperará la comida”, concluyó.

Hoy día las entregas de comida han aumentado, los despidos y cierres de negocios también. El condado de Miami-Dade se ha convertido con más de 9.354 infectados en el epicentro de la pandemia en un estado que en las últimas horas ya registra más de 26.306 casos.