Emilia Vexler
06/20/2020 - 17:18
- Clarín.com
- Society
Frey is 13 years old and on November 28 he arrived in Rio Tercero, Córdoba, from Guinea Bissau. Actually his name is Fedrico (not Federico) and he lived most of his life in Casa Emanuel, an orphanage in that small country in West Africa . Until Karen Escribano and Pablo Feighelstein adopted it. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, while learning Spanish at home, and studying sixth grade online at the Modesto Acuña public school, this Saturday, on Flag Day, he was chosen by the mayor of the city to hoist it.
Because days before he had written a letter to Manuel Belgrano that moved everyone: "A different thing that I have here and there is no (referring to his native country) is Freedom ."
"Fray celebrated his birthday on Tuesday and that day the teacher, Emilse, sent us support material, where it was proposed, together with the third municipality of Rio, that the boys write a letter to the hero . The slogan explained what was the criteria, what was the objective. There were 48 hours to deliver it. I wanted to help him, but it seemed impossible to explain Argentine history to him in such a short time and with him learning the language. But I asked him a question about a talk we had some time ago: 'What do you notice differently between the previous stage of your life and this one that started? The answer was what we helped him write in that letter and it took him to the flag today, ”says Clarín Pablo, 65, who is a lawyer and psychologist.
Frey's letter as homework for school.
Karen, who works in the Judiciary, explains why her son notes Freedom here. “Fray's uncle allowed the adoption and we had a beautiful farewell talk with him. but we never got to know his aunt. We almost had to flee Guinea Bissau in the face of a threat of civil war and the closure of the international airport. We left the day before. Just the day that she and her cousins were going to say goodbye, ”she narrates.
In addition to the two brothers he has in Africa, here he has four more. Victoria is in fourth grade at the same school and was also adopted . She came from Ukraine and this Saturday saw Fray raising the flag on video.
The mother tongue of this teenager is Portuguese and his ethnic group is Creole , which is mixed with the dialects of that country in the African equatorial zone, on the Atlantic Ocean.
“Independence in your country is much cooler than ours. It started in the 1960s. He immediately caught up with the purpose of the letter. He could understand that if he had had to live in any country before people like Belgrano did his job, he would have been a slave. He his mother and his brothers. He drafted the letter. I helped him with the syntax and spelling, which is far from bad. I am thrilled that a boy who arrived 7 months ago gave this value to Belgrano's ideas. We do not value our freedom equally, ”continues Pablo.
Neither Karen nor Pablo wants to be called "heroes" in the Rio Tercero community - as it sometimes happens - because of their ties to international children's organizations that took them to different orphanages in the world where there were children without the possibility of local adoption. Nor do they want their child "to be different because she is black or not." They want Fray to be "very happy". And free.