He often receives reactions from people who recognize him. Sometimes they think he is that football player. But he is the 30-year-old Mauro who actually had to leave the country. He had to return to his native Angola, but in the end he was allowed to stay and now he has been living in Eindhoven for ages. He is doing well. He is an entrepreneur, he has a girlfriend and a 6-year-old daughter. He talks about it in the Omroep Brabant TV program ‘KRAAK asks door’.
When he sees how his daughter is growing up now, he thinks back to his own childhood with pain in his heart. He was 9 years old when his mother put him on a plane in Angola to Europe, all alone. Eventually, as an asylum seeker, he ended up in a foster family in Limburg. There he had a fairly normal childhood until the age of 18. And then the message came: he had to return to Angola, a country he no longer had any interest in.
‘Cheeky’
Mauro became the subject of a political joust that everyone had an opinion about in 2011. Minister Henk Bleker defended the position on behalf of the CDA that Mauro had to leave the Netherlands. But he slid a note to him asking if he wanted to go to the soccer game sometime. “No way,” said Mauro spontaneously.
In fact, he was a bit shocked by his own words. “I actually thought it was rude to a minister.” It shows the cautious attitude he still has. He has had a residence permit since 2013, but for a long time he thought that he could be deported again. Since he got his passport two years ago, that is less.
‘Have a nice day’
The presentation of his own passport was a moment he longed for. The moment itself was a bit disappointing. “A lady at the town hall pushed it to me and said: ‘Have a nice day’.” That was the moment when Mauro Manuel, as his full name is, became a fully-fledged Dutch citizen.
He really had to do his best to process all of his history. “But now I think: this is who I am, this story belongs to me.” It has also given him the perseverance to become an entrepreneur. He has his own clothing brand that is made from beech wood in a sustainable way.
Pain
He has closed the Angola chapter. He lived there until he was 9 years old, but the few memories he has are overshadowed by the misery of later. It is difficult for him to understand that his mother put him on the plane. “But I have the luxury of not having to make those kinds of trade-offs,” he says.
The anger about this diminishes, but the feeling of being rejected remains. “I have to live with that,” says Mauro. But when I see how much my daughter needs us now, it hurts.
‘KRAAK asks through’ is broadcast every Wednesday at 5.15 pm and then repeated. The program can also be viewed online and via Brabant+.