Antonio is a 16-year-old boy, a 5th-year high school student. Her father died 3 years ago from diabetes, her mother has cancer and can not receive chemotherapy because in the public hospital there is nothing for her. He has some morochos brothers of 11 years.
Antonio failed 7 subjects of the 8 that he studies.
He was reported to the guidance department of his school for his poor grades, but when his teachers called him and saw him enter his office they realized that he was limping as he walked. They immediately asked him why he was going and he told them, with total sincerity, that his shoes were tight and that he had blisters, and as he came and went from school every day, he had blisters on his heels.
There the professors realized that their notes were not produced simply by laziness or by an "orientation" problem.
Antonio confessed that they had nothing to eat at home. That her mom can only make some money to sell coffee, and only when she feels well, because her illness already limits her a little.
Antonio told his teachers that he works as a night watchman, from 7 pm to 7 am, barely sleeping 2 hours, and on weekends 48 hours in a row, to try to get some more money for his family.
When he does not have to work, he wakes up at 4 am to feed his little brothers, if they have that day, but at least to wake them up early and grab the free school bus, which leaves very early, and so they do not have to walk to school, prefer to make them early. He has had to ask for money in buses for his mother's health, but has not been able to complete the treatment. Many times he takes the lunch they give him in his school and takes it to his brothers, staying again without eating.
When I met him and he told me his story I asked him: Why are you doing this? Why are you still studying? And he, with tears in his eyes as a teenager, he does not cry because his mother does not give him permission to go to parties or because he does not have fashionable clothes, he just told me "because I love my family and I know that I should study to help them best".
What a lesson! A hero with broken heels! A hero without shoes!
His teachers, some heroes too, immediately began to move to get him shoes of his size. He healed his wounds to heal, day after day. They got him clothes and shoes for him and his family. From the parish we help him with food. There he goes, now with a better face, more animated. With a conviction: I'm not alone.
Stories like Antonio's, unfortunately there are many in Venezuela. More than we know. How many chamos like him are fighting to overcome so much misery, and not only material, but cultural. The one that is overcome with love and sacrifices, the one that is overcome with concrete acts.
I'll tell the teenagers about Antonio now.
Who does not care about the clothes that will be put on for the party or that his mother scolds him a lot; but his biggest worry is that he does not have enough to feed his siblings, his concern is that his mother has not received any treatment for his illness.
Antonio, without a doubt, is a shoeless hero (well, thank God and the generosity of his teachers he already has). But meanwhile, while this shower lasts, may God grant perseverance and joy to so many Antonio Venezuelans and that better times come for our country.
