Children of coal

An old photograph immortalizes the coal generation in the old mine of As Pontes.

A few years ago, we could not say who it was that affectionately called us "children of coal", those of us who had worked in the coal industry at some point in our professional lives.

Children of coal, that is how we think of ourselves, those of us who lived through that era when many had grandparents, parents, siblings working in mining or other previous-generation power plants, and who lived intensely from a young age, even before we knew that this is what we were going to do, what coal was, either because of the mine, or because of the power plant. It was what we had been taught, what we had experienced, and what sometimes made us dream. And there were those who did not have this family connection, who enjoyed this beautiful experience with the same intensity and we can confirm that we succeeded.

An old coal hopper rests forever on a blanket of flowers.

But here we would like to go further, the children of coal are something more than that, we are a community with an identity, without wanting to be pretentious, we have been, and some of us are still special in some way, with character, human quality, drive and example for other younger people who have followed us.

With character, how could this not be so when day in and day out we made the plant's problems our own and we did our best to address them, making helping other colleagues a priority, and doing everything necessary for the good of the company.

A last look through the window at the As Pontes power plant's cabon park.

Those were the times when, long before starting work, we were already looking at what was happening and what was not, we remember those very cold nights, those very hot summers, but we were happy, we liked what we were doing and we were proud to belong to that group of people and to be part of Endesa, even though this was a very small part.

Laughing, crying, leaving satisfied, other times angry because things didn't go our way, all of this will be part of our lives.

Where once there was coal, a new future has arrived with renewable energies.

The Endesa we know today would not be possible without those people, many of whom are now retired, others relocated and some who are no longer with us. We should not forget that we have now changed our technology for other sources of renewable energy, but the legacy of those of us who consider ourselves children of coal is still there with our younger colleagues relocated and working for the future of Endesa.

For those of us who continue to work for Endesa, here is a wish and a rallying cry: Enjoy your work and be proud of what you do. We need to work to continue being a special community, with character, humanity, and drive, setting an example for those who come after us, just as we were, or at least tried to be, the children of coal.