PEPE: "When I arrived in Portugal, I had the equivalent of five euros. I was at Immigration because I had come alone from Brazil at 18. A fax was supposed to arrive from Marítimo stating that I had permission to enter Portugal. With that money, I had to buy a phone card to call my mom and tell her I was okay. The other option would’ve been to buy food. I thought, ‘I’m going to ease my mom’s worries.’
"I arrived at 6 a.m. and checked my boarding pass—I didn’t have a flight until 11 p.m., and I had to eat. So I went to the airport and asked an employee, ‘Do you have anything to eat?’ He said yes, that they had everything on the menu. ‘But I don’t have any money,’ I told him. He looked at me, stepped out, and came back with a tray and a baguette and gave it to me."
"That person didn’t know who I was. And I still don’t know who he is, which is a shame. But that gesture helped me for the rest of my life. And since then, Portugal has become my country."
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