Valentin

My hero was my great grandfather. He was called Valentin. He was Russian and he was very determined. He was very patient with his parents, who made him do all types of works. He had a lot of courage and hope to do what he did.

In Russia, it was very cold. Everyday, he went to do his work with a simple onion to eat with his brothers. At the age of thirteen, he decided to go alone to Argentina. He went walking from Russia to Italy. On the way, he worked as a fence painter. Doing that, he saved money to go to Argentina. It was very difficult to him because he didn't know how to speak other languages. When he got to Italy, he had enough money to go to Argentina. In Argentina, he kept working as a fence painter and he saved enough money to bring his family to Argentina. Here, he met a woman (my great grandmother) and they got married.

For me, he was very important because if he would not have that courage and hope, probably I wouldn’t be here in the world, or I would be in Europe. It is really hard to believe that a thirteen year old boy went walking from Russia to Italy, working with people of other countries, without knowing any language and arriving alone to Argentina. But he did it, and I'm proud that someone in my family did such a thing. He deserves being my hero.

I think that he was a survivor hero because he survived an extreme situation of travelling on his own. He was like Ana Frank. Both survived an extreme situation, only that Valentin didn’t have any inconveniences, and Ana Frank did, as they trapped her.

He was very courageous deciding to cross Europe on his own. He also had lots of hope because he knew he could make it. It was very brave of him to do that and he was one of the best members of my family.