It’s a completely insane story that it almost feels like a made up movie or something. We met the kid and his father in Lima about ten years ago when we were still travelling. They’re Venezuelan who fled their country during their economic crisis. The father was a highly paid engineer that lost everything so they split the family, wife tried to go to the US with limited success and he wandered around South America with his 14 year old son. When we met them in Lima I could tell right away that this boy was effeminate and would 99% be gay. We kept in touch and we even sent them money when they needed it from time to time. The kid grows up, ends up with an American boyfriend who helps him gain entry to the US. The father stays behind, let’s his 18 year old son go, while everyone (including us) thought this was going to turn into something weird, ugly or terrible. He ends up in Florida with his boyfriend and again it turns into several years of iffy situations, immigration paper work, wondering if he’ll stay or not, wondering if he will be deported. We couldn’t do anything except send money once in a while and expected one day to get some shitty news. My wife is sick with a chronic illness so we can’t move around any more … we had planned to fly down to see them but it never worked out. Last year, he dropped the bomb on us that they’ve decided for him to join the US army which would speed up his immigration status and citizenship. After years of all that roller coaster drama … being an immigrant, being gay, Trumpism, far-right extremism everywhere, being a young kid on his own … we never thought he would make it but he has. It’s amazing. When he was in the middle of bootcamp we had one or two calls because communications was restricted while he was there … we told him he was our Alexander.
Long story short … he’s going OK … there’s a dark cloud over everything but he’s going to be OK. Man, it’s just a whole relief for us to know he’s OK.
It’s a completely insane story that it almost feels like a made up movie or something. We met the kid and his father in Lima about ten years ago when we were still travelling. They’re Venezuelan who fled their country during their economic crisis. The father was a highly paid engineer that lost everything so they split the family, wife tried to go to the US with limited success and he wandered around South America with his 14 year old son. When we met them in Lima I could tell right away that this boy was effeminate and would 99% be gay. We kept in touch and we even sent them money when they needed it from time to time. The kid grows up, ends up with an American boyfriend who helps him gain entry to the US. The father stays behind, let’s his 18 year old son go, while everyone (including us) thought this was going to turn into something weird, ugly or terrible. He ends up in Florida with his boyfriend and again it turns into several years of iffy situations, immigration paper work, wondering if he’ll stay or not, wondering if he will be deported. We couldn’t do anything except send money once in a while and expected one day to get some shitty news. My wife is sick with a chronic illness so we can’t move around any more … we had planned to fly down to see them but it never worked out. Last year, he dropped the bomb on us that they’ve decided for him to join the US army which would speed up his immigration status and citizenship. After years of all that roller coaster drama … being an immigrant, being gay, Trumpism, far-right extremism everywhere, being a young kid on his own … we never thought he would make it but he has. It’s amazing. When he was in the middle of bootcamp we had one or two calls because communications was restricted while he was there … we told him he was our Alexander.
Long story short … he’s going OK … there’s a dark cloud over everything but he’s going to be OK. Man, it’s just a whole relief for us to know he’s OK.