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Afonso Slater (L) and Kelvin Lewis remained best friends after being adopted by two separate couples who lived just two miles apart in Gilbert, Ariz.
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The friendship of two young men from Mozambique have survived through their days at an orphanage in their native country, to somehow being adopted by two different couples in Arizona who just happened to live a mere two miles apart, AZ Central Sports reports.
Kelvin Lewis and Afonso Slater were fast friends even before they were placed in an orphanage in Mozambique when they were small children.
“In my earliest memories I’ve always known Kelvin,” Slater said.
“I remember he had this type of monkey,” Slater said. “I would go over to his house and we would play with his monkey.”
However, tragedy soon struck both boys. Kelvin didn’t know his father, and his mother died of AIDS when he was just 4 years old. Afonso lost both his parents to AIDS before his fourth birthday.
“The only memory I have is crying the day one of them died,” Afonso recalled. “I don’t know which one.”
In a twist of fate, their friendship survived through those rough days and both boys just happened to be adopted by two separate Gilbert, Ariz. families who were aquaintances through their older children but didn’t know each other that well. The couples lived a mere two miles apart in the tight knit community, allowing the boys to continue growing up together and nurture their friendship.
Kelvin and Afonso were best friends even before they were sent to an orphanage in Mozambique after they lost their parents to AIDS
USA Today
The boys, to this day, marvel at the coincidence.
“It’s crazy,” Afonso said. “Honestly, it didn’t really register how much of a miracle and how amazing this really was until we got here. It’s just wonderful.”
“We had found these children independently and we hadn’t realized they were best friends,” Sharon Slater, Afonso’s adoptive mother, said. “Yes, I think it’s amazing but I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in God-incidences. I don’t think this all happened by chance.” The Slaters also adopted Afonso’s older siblings Luis, 11 at the time, and Amelia, 9.
Together, the boys navigated adapting to a new country and a new language, leaning on one another.
“Having Kelvin around … he was someone I could relate to,” Afonso said. “Gilbert is a very family-friendly place and I was very welcomed but sometimes I couldn’t really understand everything. But I could talk to Kelvin about it.”
The boys, all grown up now, are bringing a close to their high school years in Gilbert. However, that doesn’t mean they’re about to be separated. Both have beeen accepted into Brigham Young University and they will be roommates in the fall.
“The way I like to think about it is that God put me in his life. There’s no way this could be chance,” Afonso said. “I feel like God is running my life and he wants me to stay with Kelvin for some reason.”
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