We’re part of this slum, our life too

Gustavo, Ana’s brother “About me and my sister? We had a bad childhood. We did not know what a good childhood is, or even what was a toy. We didn’t know what was a toy, a ball. We suffer abuse. We had a bad childhood. Since kids we worked in the countryside, she (Ana) took care of sheep, I took care of cows. We used to take the horses to the field, and did not know what was going out to the corner to get ice cream.

Once I got tired of the abuse from my father, I was very young, but I got tired. I escaped through the window and ran away several times. And I came back two or three days after. And my dad hit us with a whip, a whip with chains. And my sister was marked everywhere.

And things went on. Ana moved with her couple, and I also moved with my girlfriend when I was very young, I was 15 or 16 years. My sister was together with the father of the kids for 15 years, then they separated. And since that day, she fought alone with her kids.

I have 8 children. I divorced and I got married again. I have a new wife now. We had a difficult life. The life of us is very complicated. We had a brother who killed himself. I have a missing brother, who until today we never found it. I have a sister in a mental hospital. The life of Lavallen family is a disaster. And until today we have been fighting.
We are not so united, we do not see each other every weekend. When I have time, I come and see them. And when I used to be there, we saw every day. But sometimes we are all separate.

And this is our life. If I’m honest, it’s a shitty life. That is the truth, it is a shitty life. We have nice moments. I have kids, nephews, grandchildren. We have a lot of things, but sometimes when you start thinking about you got a backpack and you are carrying things. And you think about these things you left behind.

We do not have any fucking education. We never went to school. We passed second or third grade of primary school , an then we did not go anymore. And that weighs a lot. My dad would have told us: “You have to go to school because tomorrow you will have a good job.”. And many people have it and do not take advantage of that. We would have taken better advantage. (…) But thank God we’re fine, we are not rich but we’re fine. We have a job, have a family, we visited occasionally. This is the life of the poor people, this is the life of the poor really.

The most beautiful moment is the family. The most beautiful moment of life is the family, eating pasta or having a barbacue together.”

Pierre Le Corf — WE ARE SUPERHEROES Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wearesuperheroes/we-are-superheroes