Isolation and neglect characterized Bernardo Briceño’s early recollections. He remembered clearly how his tiny body shook in the gloomy light as he crawled out of a creaking cot in a cold, echoing orphanage as a toddler.

The atmosphere was one of fear and hunger, broken by the distant sounds of irate voices debating him. In a society where a child ought to be surrounded by love and care, Bernardo’s life was marked by strict discipline and apathy.

The times when the strict nuns would eject him from the one area of the orphanage where gentle music and laughter wafted in from another room were almost invisible to him. The harsh cries of a woman would reach his ears: “Enough of this, we have to get rid of that brat!” He learned early on that he was unwanted from this agonizing sound that reverberated in his frail heart.