“Life in my country was not easy. My family is very large -I am the youngest of 18 siblings- and my father could not cope with everything. There was no more money to buy me books so that I could study, like other older brothers. He sometimes helped my father in his clothing store, but he almost always had to stay at home. One day, some friends of one of my brothers found me crying because my parents wouldn’t let me go play soccer -there are times when children disappear if they go alone- and they told me that if I went with them to try to come to Europe”. Mamadou Traore (Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 2004) was a teenager when in 2018 he embarked on a risky journey. His frustration at the moment for not being able to kick a ball led him to make a decision that would change the course of his life to the point that today, with all the papers in order, he is the goalkeeper of the Spanish Selection of refugees and at risk of exclusion that just finished sixth in the Unity Euro Cup. He and his teammates have more than one reason to want to give up “everything” for the Spain shirt.
2023-07-05 21:59:29
#easy #leave #country #mother #father.. #proud #Spanish #National #Team #difficult #stories
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