“I think about him everyday. I dream that he’s talking to me” said Altamir in tears. He wants to be able to call his daughter-in-law daily, which is why he’s asked for a cell phone. That way he’ll feel less lonely
As time goes by, technology becomes ever more advanced and as a society we depend on it more to go about our daily lives. And while this development has made life easier for many, there’s a generation of people who are being left behind, unable to adapt to the changes.
It’s this situation that Altamir Soares de Oliveira finds himself in, a 77-year-old grandpa who’s asked for a cell phone for Christmas so that he can speak to his daughter-in-law everyday. As his adopted son died recently, she’s all that he has left.
“I asked for a cell phone because I wanted to use it to talk to her everyday. She’s the only daughter I have”, Altamir told Campo grande News.
However, the phone in question isn’t a modern smartphone, like those we see all around us nowadays. Altamir would like one of those older phones from a few years back: “(An) old-school cell phone with a button keypad,” he explained.
Altamir asked for the Christmas present in tears, after being overwhelmed by feelings of loneliness and desperation. The elderly man, who lives in the Sirpha Lar Do Idoso care home in the South of Brazil, had experienced fatherhood again after musician Mario Júnior adopted him as his father, after finding out that he was alone.
Unfortunately, Mario Júnior, who used to visit Altamir twice a week at the care home died recently in an accident. Known as Juninho da Fonseca, he was director of the Guarani choir, a violinist and guitarist but Altamir remembers him as his son, who spent a lot of time with him.
In fact, Mario Júnior used to visit all of the elderly residents at the home and he used to play music to entertain them which is why the news of his death has deeply moved everyone, especially Altamir.
“I felt something. I dreamed about him last night, that he was playing and we were singing. I think about him everyday and I ask the priest to pray for him. I dream that he’s speaking to me”, said Altamir.
