Vilson Duarte Dong, 24, is a Portuguese man who escaped a life of violence and crime in England. Living in England since he was 12, he started using bladed weapons at 13, was part of a gang and dealt drugs. Before he was 20, he had already been to prison twice and was almost deported.
His destiny seemed set. But it broke the cycle. He read, studied, graduated, rebuilt himself.
He joined the Leeds United Foundation, a foundation of an English Premier League football club that supports actions to prevent juvenile delinquency. He tries to show other young people that there is more to the world beyond the borders of the neighborhood and leave “seeds” of hope.
Tell me a little about your childhood. Where were you born, where do you live in the first years of your life?
I was born in Portugal in 2001 and lived in Almada. My father came from Macau and met my mother, who was Portuguese, in Portugal.
And what was your parents’ profession?
My mother owned a daycare. When we lived in Portugal, my father was a cook. When we emigrated to Spain he opened his own restaurant and then in England too. Now that he has returned to Macau, he is studying Chinese medicine.
Did your parents go with you to England?
My father, me, my two brothers and my sister (Vincent, Vitor and Viviava). We all emigrated. But my older brother returned to Spain and lives in Barcelona. My mother died when we were still little, I was around 10 years old, in Spain.
How and where were your studies?
Primary education was in Spain. Then, when I came to England, at the age of 12, I immediately entered the equivalent of secondary education.
What were all these changes like — Portugal, Spain, England? For someone so young, it’s not easy…
I barely remember from Portugal to Spain, I was very young. But from Spain to England it was very difficult. I had to learn a new language. I didn’t know English; I only knew a few words that I learned at school in Spain, but I couldn’t talk.
Did you feel like a foreigner, more so than in Spain?
Yes, much more. Portuguese and Spanish culture is similar; England is very different. It was difficult to adapt. I only spent one year at school in England. I had difficulty adapting, studying… and I started to become a bit rebellious. I ended up being expelled.
What happened?
I was caught with drugs.
Did you start consuming early?
He didn’t consume, he sold drugs. I met a guy in the neighborhood who did this and I started doing it too. Then I started responding badly to teachers, getting into fights. I thought they were bullying me and I reacted violently. I didn’t control my emotions.
Then I started keeping drugs for that person, and later selling them. He had a backpack full of drugs to sell after classes and on the street with others. They ended up catching me at school. I was expelled and banned from returning.
How old were you at that time?
Fourteen or fifteen years.
And what was it like going from rebelliousness, which is natural at these ages – selling drugs isn’t – to violent crime, in your case with bladed weapons? Everything happened very quickly in your life…
At that time I lived with my father, my grandmother and my brothers in a two-bedroom house. My father slept on the sofa, my grandmother had to have a room of her own and I, with my brothers, shared one room. We had no privacy at all. So, I went out a lot. I was freer. I started hanging out with a group. For me, they were friends, they defended me and I defended them. It was a bad influence.