In 1987, in Rio Branco, the capital of Acre, an 11-year-old boy named Josenildo da Silva Marreira He left his home with a tray of rice kibbeh. That day, like so many others, Josenildo sought to help his family by selling these salty stuffed with ground meat, meticulously prepared by his mother, Iraci Feitosa da Silva, then 31 years old.
In a region where child labor was not only common but also vital to subsistence, Josenildo’s day at the bus station marked the beginning of an odyssey that would last decades.
The fatal encounter and kidnapping
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His father had been a military policeman, tragically murdered in 1983 during a bar fight. The image of his father lying in a pool of blood was a vision that still tormented him.
The lady suggested taking him to the criminals who had murdered his father. The boy, driven by a mixture of curiosity and desire for justice, abandoned his tray of kibbehs and boarded the bus with it, without knowing that this gesture would take him to Porto Velhoin Rondônia, where he would be included in a child trafficking network and sold to a family in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina.
Life in Florianópolis and the escape
“I missed my mother a lot. After my father’s death I found myself responsible for the family, since I was the oldest of seven siblings,” Josenildo told O Globo.
Iraci Feitosa da Silva
Photo:
The search for Iraci
His travels took him through Cuiabá, Campo Grande and finally to Brasiléia, near the border with Bolivia.
A new chapter and the search for your identity
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“They had to register me to enroll in school,” explained Francisco, formerly Josenildo. Tragedy struck again when his adoptive family faced death and illness.
![Josenildo da Silva Marreira and his mother.](https://imagenes.eltiempo.com/uploads/2024/05/28/665603aa9bbcc.jpeg)
Josenildo da Silva Marreira and his mother.
Photo:
Iraci, for her part, never stopped looking for her son, despite recommendations from friends and psychologists that he process his loss and move on.
The long-awaited reunion
“It is impossible to describe this emotion. I am happy, but I also feel a strange feeling for having been away from him for so long,” Iraci said when she was finally able to hug her son after so many years.
(Also: He killed his parents because he didn’t want to go to school, went out to eat and came back to get rid of the bodies).
This incredible odyssey, which spanned most of the life of Josenildo, now Francisco Josenildo da Silva Marreira Tigre, reflects not only the personal and family struggles, but also the profound social and legal problems faced by many in Brazil.
With an ending that combines joy with melancholy, Josenildo’s story is a testament to resilience, a mother’s unwavering hope, and the search for identity in a world that often seems too vast and disconnected.
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*This content was rewritten with the assistance of artificial intelligence based on information from O Globo de Brasil (GDA) and was reviewed by a journalist and an editor.
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