Mamadou, a migrant minor who arrived in Spain, will return to Senegal so that his birth family and his host family can meet: «My life has meaning.»
Nayma Fernández was a foster child and is now a foster mother. Therefore, she emphasizes the importance of the thousands of children and adolescents who are waiting for a family in Spain to finally have one: «A family is the one that changes your destiny based on love and sustains you when you are on the verge of collapse.»
During a parliamentary session held in Congress on the occasion of World Foster Care Day, celebrated this Saturday, 26-year-old Nayma shares her personal experience and denounces that wards of the state are «children with silenced voices» because «no one ever» asks them how they feel.
Currently, Nayma is a social worker and, therefore, understands the crucial work that professionals in youth centers perform. «We are there, for and because of them, and we try to give them the best, but in the end, maybe it’s not my turn and I can’t be there for an important moment… at a graduation or a birthday,» she explains.
For Nayma, a family «is not a roof, not a plate of food, not a piece of paper you sign.» «A family is the one that sustains you when you are on the verge of collapse, the one that is still there when you do wrong,» she argues.
In her speech, the young woman highlights the role of her extended family, especially grandparents and uncles, who «always respected that I had a family» and supported her during difficult times. «Even though we can’t live with our parents, they are still our story,» she points out.
Nayma focuses on the vulnerability of wards of the state, pointing out that leaving a center at 18 is «the beginning of the end» for many young people who end up «as dysfunctional adults, without education and support.» In contrast, she had her aunt, her «conscience,» or her grandfather, who supported her in «crucial moments.»
«HE WAS DESPERATE»
The event also featured the testimony of Mamadou Ka, a former migrant youth who crossed the Sahara Desert to reach Spain. More than 10 years after his arrival, Mamadou will return to his native Senegal in the fall, accompanied by his foster family to meet his siblings and his entire extended family.
Mamadou described how he arrived in Spain at the age of 16. «I couldn’t speak Spanish. I didn’t know anyone and I was desperate. I didn’t know what to do,» says the young man, who works as an electrician and dreams of bringing electricity to his village. «And to show that we left our family to improve, to have a better life, to take care of ourselves, not for anything else,» he assures.
The young man emphasizes the role of foster families and, specifically, his own. «Thanks to them, I am where I am. Thanks to them, my life has meaning.» For example, Mamadou recounts how they helped him obtain documents, residency permits, a job, and even an apartment. However, he says he still needs the «affection» and «love» they have given him.
Aitana Archeli, a foster sister since she was just two years old, also attended the meeting. Eight foster children have passed through her home. «Since I was so young, I didn’t really understand what was happening. I mean, I didn’t know who those children coming to my house were, what they were doing with us,» she says, adding that she thought her mother was «like a nanny.»
«CHILDREN, ‘PART OF OUR LIFE'»
«With time, I understood that they were not passing children from other families, but our children, and in my case, my brothers and sisters. And although many did not stay forever, the time they spent with us was so intense and so close that they became part of our lives, our history, our family, and in my case, of my childhood,» says Aitana, who is determined to study Social Work in Vitoria.
Aitana, 16, admits that goodbyes «hurt a lot» because she didn’t understand why her siblings were leaving their home. «A strong and deep bond was created, so when the time came to say goodbye, it was as if something broke inside you and a piece of you left with them,» she confesses.
Over the years, Aitana has learned many things: «Sometimes you’re happy playing with that child, and just by stopping for a second, just one, you realize how tough it must have been for him or her. Because many times, before coming to our house, they had to go from one house to another, bouncing like a ball, with their backpack and their story, which, even if it can’t be told sometimes, is evident in their gaze, in their silences, and in how they cling when they finally feel safe.»
Thus, Aitana argues that «no child should live in fear, uncertainty, with the feeling of not having a safe place or a home to return to.» Being a foster sister has taught her «to share, more than toys or space, the heart.»
«If someone asked me what it means to be a foster sister, I would say that it is growing up knowing that love can heal, even if it doesn’t cure everything; that a home can be a shelter, even if temporary; and that affection, when sincere, leaves a mark, even if time is short,» she concludes.