The hospitian - El hospiciano

When he was 7 years old, he learned that outside there were children other than those in the hospice, they had parents and other relatives, they went to school and played in squares and parks. Until then I thought that life was that huge building full of windows with bars and nuns, many nuns to watch over them, to feed them, to clean them and for some time now to give them classes and teach them mathematics, language and even something. of history.

Everything happened very quickly, one day Sister Soledad came to look for him and told him that a couple was interested in adopting him. He had to explain what it meant to "adopt him" and there he received the most important lesson of his short life, it was how to be born, how to open his eyes to a world different from the one he knew.

His first reaction was fear, he did not want to abandon his siblings, the safety of home, he refused to see beyond what he knew.

When they introduced him to Assunta and Pietro, he received them with resentment, but after a few visits he began to understand that perhaps it would not be so bad to have parents. They treated him with affection, with sweet words and respect, as if he were an adult. That surprised him beyond what he had thought, it was not that the hospice treated him badly, none of that but there he was like a part of a herd, only receiving orders without the possibility of giving an opinion and much less opposing or revealing himself.

But there was something that if they let him do with enough freedom and that was draw and paint. He did not understand how he had developed that characteristic but if he knew he had talent, he did it well, each time better. At least everyone said that.

Several months passed, little by little he realized that on Sundays I was looking forward to the arrival of the Italian couple who spoke strangely, I finally recognized that I couldn't wait to go with them. They had told him that the procedures to adopt him were slow and cumbersome, he did not understand well what that meant but he suffered. He already wanted to go live with his new parents, actually the only ones he knew.

The next few years passed very quickly, the best of his life. He had parents who loved him and he developed his great potential with painting, he could not study arts, the money was not enough but he was an excellent self-taught and his work was already recognized as much as it was criticized. His parents never saw the success of his work but he always thanked them with all the strength of his heart.

Throughout his life he dedicated himself to doing good and helping others, just as Assunta and Pietro did with him.

Cuando cumplió 7 años se enteró que afuera había chicos distintos a los del hospicio, tenían padres y otros familiares, iban a la escuela y jugaban en plazas y parques. Hasta ese entonces pensaba que la vida era esa construcción enorme llena de ventanas con rejas y monjas, muchas monjas para vigilarlos, para darles de comer, para asearlos y desde un tiempo a esta parte también para darles clases y enseñarles matemáticas, lengua y hasta algo de historia.

Todo ocurrió muy rápido, un día vino a buscarlo la hermana Soledad y le dijo que un matrimonio estaba interesado en adoptarlo. Tuvo que explicarle que significaba “adoptarlo” y allí recibió la lección más importante de su corta vida, fue como nacer, como abrir los ojos a un mundo diferente al que conocía.

Su primera reacción fue de miedo, no quería abandonar a sus hermanos, la seguridad del hogar, se negaba a ver más allá de cuanto conocía.

Cuando le presentaron a Assunta y a Pietro los recibió con resquemor pero luego de algunas pocas visitas fue entendiendo que quizás no sería tan malo tener padres. Lo trataban con cariño, con palabras dulces y respeto, como si fuera un adulto. Eso lo sorprendió más allá de lo que hubiera pensado, no era que en el hospicio lo trataran mal, nada de eso pero allí era como parte de un rebaño, solo recibir órdenes sin posibilidad de opinar y mucho menos oponerse o revelarse.

Pero había algo que si le dejaban hacer con bastante libertar y eso era dibujar y pintar. No entendía cómo había desarrollado esa característica pero si sabía que tenía talento, lo hacía bien, cada vez mejor. Al menos todos decían eso.

Pasaron varios meses, poco a poco fue dándose cuenta que los domingos esperaba con ansias la llegada de la pareja de italianos que hablaban raro, finalmente reconocí que no veía la hora de irse con ellos. Le habían comentado que los trámites para adoptarlo eran lentos y engorrosos, no entendía bien que significaba eso pero sufría. Ya quería ir a vivir con sus nuevos padres, en realidad los únicos que conocía.

Pasaron muy rápido los siguientes años, los mejores de su vida. Tenía padres que lo amaban y desarrolló su gran potencial con la pintura, no pudo estudiar artes, el dinero no alcanzaba pero fue un autodidacta excelente y su trabajo ya era reconocido tanto como criticado. Sus padres no llegaron a ver el éxito de su trabajo pero el siempre les agradeció con toda la fuerza de su corazón.

Durante toda su vida se dedicó a hacer el bien y a ayudar a otros, así como Assunta y Pietro lo hicieron con él.

Las fotografías son de mi propiedad excepto las que menciono la fuente.
The photographs are my property except those mentioned by the source.

Héctor Gugliermo
@hosgug