Zapatos nuevos: Pachi Tamer en TEDxRosario

I've bought new shoes,

and I wanted to show them to you.
I bought them from this guy.

His name is Catalino, he's been living here,
in North Rosario Station for over 20 years

Here is Catalino giving me his shoes.

And I bought them specially for this talk,
because for me, it's a very special occasion.

I've studied advertising in Buenos Aires.

At the university, we were given an assignment.
We had to go out and change something

to see people reactions.
So I dressed as a homeless like I'm dressed today

and I went to the Obelisco and when the cars
stopped at the light, instead of asking for money

I was giving them one peso. What did I learn?
I realized people have a lot of prejudices.

Because as soon as they saw me approaching their car,
they were closing the window or they looked away

pretending that nobody was there,
they were feeling uncomfortable themselves for a while,

and at the next light they will feel uncomfortable again, ignoring another person.

Women usually put the bag in the back.
It was a success, and that's how I got my first job

at Agulla y Baccetti. After that I went to
Vega Olmos Ponce and in 2001 I escaped

from the economic crisis, by going to London
with just thousand dollars, a tourist visa and speaking

no English at all. I survived one year, I worked washing dishes, building scaffolding for construction sites

and installing heating and AC equipments.
I came back from London deported for working

twice the hours allowed.
But it was the best experience of my life.

I returned to my work in advertising for two years, until I got an offer from another agency in New York and I took it.

But this time I had an apartment next to the Empire State and a salary of $ 60,000 a year.

A completely different experience than London.

Then met my girlfriend at the time, and we moved together, when I got a call from another agency in Austin, Texas

offering me a job. I told them - Listen,
I just moved with my girlfriend. I can't take it.

She has a job here.- And they said, - Well, we give her
a job too.- So we went to Austin, we liked the city,

we moved. We arrived on a Sunday
and Monday we found out she was pregnant.

So we got married, I brought my parents
from Argentina and we got married in Puerto Rico.

We got married pregnant, but we were really happy.
In 2009 Elena was born.

She is the love of my life. She is that baby. When Elena was a year old, I got a call from my brother.

I was having lunch and he told me that my parents
had a really bad car accident.

He only knew they were in serious conditions. The accident was near Rafaela coming from Santiago del Estero.

Without knowing I took a plane. A friend of mine was waiting for me in Ezeiza and took me there.

And I found this.
My father in coma and my mom all broken bones.

My dad was in a coma for 10 months until he died,
and my mom was 6 month in bed with 6 surgeries.

This was the last time I hold my dad's hand, because at the beginning he listened and respond moving his hand

and then, no more. So, I went back to Austin,
to work, I had to keep working. And 5 months

before my father died, one morning we had an argument with my wife, and I left to work slamming the door.

The next day I got served at work. She filled for divorce and I lost everything. my daughter, my house, with my parents

in that situation in Argentina, I was completely alone
and I moved to a friend's house to sleep on a couch.

At that time I was using Instagram, like any other, taking pictures of a sky, a bird, until one day I met this man.

I asked him for a portrait and gave him a dollar
for the photo. And he told me his story.

And suddenly all my problems became smaller
compared to his story

It helped me to appreciate all the things I had, quite a few,
I was healthy, my daughter was healthy

I had a couch to sleep, which is a lot. And since that day I focused on taking portraits of people in the street

I found in them the family that I needed, the support,
their stories made me appreciate

all the things I had. And I started gaining followers,
uploading the pictures along with their names

and sometimes their stories.
In them I found that, the family I was missing.

Until one day I met this guy, we talked,
I took the picture, paid him a dollar

and before I left, he told me - you know the only thing
I'd like to do before I die?

I say: No. And he said: Oktoberfest!

Oktoberfest? Yes, and he told me that he was of German descent, and going there was always his dream.

We laughed and I went to work. And on my way...
At the time I had like 5,000 followers on Instagram

On my way to work, I got the idea, if every follower I have donate one dollar, which is what I pay for each portrait

I can take this guy to Germany, I can make a book
out of the experience. And I started dreaming about it...

And without much thinking I uploaded his picture with the headline: "Who wants to take this guy to Oktoberfest"

Opened a paypal account, created a site called One Dollar Dreams and suddenly a lady from Japan sent me 100 bucks

And a guy from South Africa sent me five and another one sent me two. And I realized I had a good idea, a big idea.

My father died around that time and I have a friend
who lives in Colombia

and he said: - Why don't you come and stay
for a few days, forget about your problems.

I spent some miles and I went to Colombia. And I started taking portraits again. While my friend was at work

I was taking pictures and listening to stories and writing down names and I found a completely different reality

than the reality in the United States.
Like any country in Latin America...

The reality of the people in the street is very different here.
This guy asked me for money to buy shoes

and I knew he was going to spend the money in something else, so I went with him and bought him shoes

here he is trying the shoes
and here is happy with his new shoes.

I kept taking pictures... This is how people sleep in Colombia. And is part of the landscape.

We don't realize... Notice how people keep on walking,
he is just another trash can.

Look at that bus passing by...
Until I met this guy, this guy's name is Alex

Alex came from a small town to Medellin to play the guitar on the buses and he was addicted to crack cocaine.

He went to buy drugs and he got stolen. They cut him with a knife and stole his drugs, the guitar, shoes, everything.

He'd been living on the streets for 3 days, swollen feet, could not walk. In his hand he had a card from a rehab center

He told me he couldn't handle it anymore, so he asked the police if they could give him a ride and they ignored him.

Then I asked him if he really wanted rehab. He said it was what he wanted the most

So we took a cab and I took him to rehab,
I became his guardian and Alex was

there for ten months until he got a job. I went back to Austin and the agency sent me to Mexico for a TV shoot.

After work I stayed over the weekend with a friend
and took portraits in Mexico too.

That boy is the first picture I took, that boy was painted as a clown, asking for money at the light

and his parents were at the corner drinking wine and waiting for the money. This is mexico, too many children on the street

And I kept hearing stories and telling all live through Instagram. And gaining followers and people giving me encouragement

Again, it helped me a lot with my own personal story, and also to the fact that I always worked in advertising

I like ideas, I am passionate about ideas and solving problems, but I'm not passionate about selling snacks with Monsanto on them. Do you know?

So I found in this project something that really filled my life.
I had to go to edit the spot to LA

and I had to work until Friday and I didn't have any money
so I stayed over the weekend on the streets.

And I spent the weekend in LA
sharing the experience live through Instagram

And then I went back to Austin. in Austin I found this man. This man was a chef and was unemployed.

I took him to a store, I bought him all he needed, clothes, a set of knives and went with him to different restaurants and offered advertising

to the restaurants through my social networks in exchange for a job and he got a job in the first place we went.

Then I got invited to give a speech in Uruguay.
I took pictures in Uruguay and for the conference

what I did I took a guy from the street, this guy, Sebastian.
And I did the opposite to what I did here today

We dressed him as an advertiser, we gave him a room at the hotel and he was among the people during the festival

and then I realized the same happens in reverse.
If you are well dressed, no matter if you're alcoholic

or homeless, people respects you. Then I went to Spain to visit a friend, it's great to have friends all over.

I took pictures in Madrid for 10 days and through Instagram a journalist asked me for an interview. After the interview,

she offered me her apartment in Barcelona
and I went to Barcelona and stayed 10 days.

Taking pictures in Barcelona. This is Spain...
Then I got an invite from El Salvador

In El Salvador I did the same. I went 10 days before to take pictures, but for my talk in Salvador, what I did was

I got in touch with the mother of a person of the audience, without him knowing and dressed his mom as a homeless

I took pictures of his mom dressed homeless.
Then when I was showing the photos as I'm showing now

suddenly there was this guy's mother. Nobody knew but him, now he will no longer see the homeless the same way.

Why? Because when that person is a relative,
we change perspectives. When is someone we love.

And those people on the streets are brothers of someone, someone's children, someone's mother, all of them.

After that I returned to Austin and wanted to do
a larger study of the United States because

only had Austin and LA. I had no money,
and as usual, I did it anyways.

I took my car and left with thousand dollars.
the same amount of money I had going to London.

I spent two months on the road, I traveled ten thousand miles in two months. I went to Las Vegas

LA, San Francisco, Denver, Saint Louis, Detroit, New York, Washington, Atlanta, Miami, Key West

New Orleans and returned to Austin.
People opened their houses for me,

they gave me money, food, and a lot of support.
In SF I invited a homeless guy to come with me

and we traveled together for a month and I left him in Key West. The trip was a success.

And finally, I want to talk about luck.

Because we discriminate people for their
appearance but we don't consider It's all luck.

You are very lucky to be here today,
listening to this talk and well dressed.

Luck is a major factor, not only in what we get from life
but also in the options we have.

Because that conditions what you can decide later.
For example, this hat that I have

is the result of an abusive and alcoholic father.
This jacket is my brother that gave me drugs when I was 7

That is this jacket. These shoes that I have,
are never going to school

Catalino shoes, painful, very painful shoes.
This shirt is all the times I've been hit.

And finally, these pants.
These pants are my mom who worked as a whore

and never were home.
We are all equal, as you can see.

We may have some differences. But I'm always thankful for what I have, not concerned for what I'm missing

This underwear is being born in the Sanatorio Británico assisted for the best doctors.

This shirt, this shirt is going to a private school
from preschool to high school.

We keep applauding right?

Ironed by my mom, last night. My mom ironed it.
She is somewhere around here.

This pant is the result of missing my career 3 times and my parents that supported me until I found what I really love.

And finally these are my shoes, which I use every day. They represent my mom's effort because with 74 years old

keeps working so a fucking divorce don't leave me as a homeless, living on the streets. These are my shoes.

Thank you all for walking in them for 18 minutes.
Thank you mom. Thank you all.