It’s the middle of winter, and more than ever, homeless people are living in extremely difficult conditions. Among them, Toombow Kids met Jérémie Pierre, a 22 year old man with a very unique story. When he was just a boy, he was adopted in Romania and moved to France. In order to share his experience with young orphaned children and let the world hear him speak from the heart, Jérémie wanted to talk about his experience to Toombow Kids, which gives a voice to children around the world. Here is his story.
On August 24, 2000, little Zsolti, who would later be named Jérémie, was born in Romania. After just one week, his parents decided to place him in a hospital for infants where he would stay for a year. Even then, Jeremie has a few flashbacks that remind him that he felt abandoned. A very weak newborn, he nearly died and would never have survived without the dedicated support of doctors. Between the ages of one and two, the boy was placed in the orphanage in the city of Oradea-Bihor with his older brother, who was also abandoned. In this large place, where only women worked, Jeremiah was with a dozen other orphaned children. The young man has good memories of this time:
“I remember that the ladies always made me feel appreciated. I felt good there, I felt loved.
When he was two years old, the future lit up for Jérémie. Like angels from heaven, a French couple visiting the orphanage decided to adopt Jérémie and his brother and bring them back to France, near Paris. It was at this time that the young Zsolti was renamed ” Jérémie ” while his brother took the name “Corentin”. Jérémie lived a peaceful childhood, but he was never a big fan of school. That’s why he chose to stop his studies at age 14 to obtain a vocational training certificate, before reorienting himself towards a training for cooks. At age 15, after his parents’ divorce, the teenager’s personal situation worsened. His relationship with his father became very conflictual, to the point that they no longer saw each other, while his mother reproached him more and more for his misbehavior and his mischief, until the breaking point at the age of 18 when she decided to throw him out on the street.
From then on, a new way of life begam for him, that of survival. Jérémie looks for food on a daily basis by panhandling and waiting for the food brought by certain humanitarian associations. He is forced to frequently change the place where he sleeps according to the bad weather. Sometimes, he stays for a few days with friends, but most of the time, he sleeps in parking lots, stairwells and other places that he manages to find. Often, he has to face people who stare at him:
“Sometimes, without them even speaking, I feel people stare at me. You can tell by the way they look at me. They’re like, ‘Go to work, lazy boy!’ or they’re judging me.”
For a long time, Jérémie kept to himself and found solace in drinking alcohol, which became an addiction for him. Fortunately, he recently realized that this was not a solution to his problems and he’s doing everything he can to be free of this disease. His outlet is rap music. He writes each of his texts inspired by his experience, and as he says, it has the effect of a real therapy for him. He wishes to pursue this passion and why not even perform on stage in the future during his free time. Looking back, he has reflected a lot on his past and wants to send a message to the children who have been adopted:
“I support you 100% and my heart goes out to you. Life is hanging by a thread, you had the chance to be adopted and you must not waste it. Take every opportunity and fight to make a good life for yourself !!”
Jérémie thinks a lot about the future and he told us his biggest dream: to start a family, enjoy life and become a chef. Moreover, he has a goal in mind that is close to his heart: when he can afford it, he wants to return to his homeland to find out about his family. When he was born, he knows for a fact that his biological parents gave him a letter with a message written in Romanian, which included their names as well as those of his six other siblings of whom he knows nothing. Unfortunately, the older brother he knows lost the paper, but that doesn’t stop him from hoping that one day he will meet his biological parents.
The entire Toombow Kids team hopes with all its heart that one day this beautiful reunion will take place, so don’t hesitate to share this article with others so that its reach will go beyond the borders and reach the ears of people in Romania. Who knows, maybe Jeremie’s sincerity, the magic of Toombow Kids and your help will let him have a happy ending.