He arrived on a rainy Christmas day, 8 months old and totally changed our lives.

For him we moved from the city to the countryside.

For him we gave up trips and family outings, because someone always had to stay for safety reasons.

With him we learned to take another look at the animals in captivity and we entered into this struggle for the rescue of many of them, injured, caged and often suffering.

For him we would wake up every day thinking about what to do to make his days happier, less boring. What different fruit could we give him, which toy he would like. And all his friends, Ana, Camila, Judy and Nino, also enjoyed this care. Nino argued with him through the window every day, but it was, in a way, a distraction for everyone.

Without realizing it, we learned the language of chimpanzees. From the sound they made we knew if someone was coming and if they were welcome, if there was any fight, if they were happy or sad, if some animal had entered the room or if it was just a “dangerous slug” in the vegetable.

Lately he could not miss the escarole that he loved, so several were planted.

And the bread we into the tea to eat before going to bed. The warm dinner soup, the jelly and the chup-chup now in the summer!

And so, when the day was over, it gave that sense of accomplishment.

In this routine, yesterday morning dawned beautiful, sunny, the birds singing, the dogs barking, the horse grazing and the chimpanzees playing, screaming and fighting, all the same every day, until the afternoon, when our little baby, Serginho, laid down in the grass and left! Without warning, no goodbyes, no time for a hug, nothing, his heart stopped and he passed away.

It seemed like time had stopped. We heard no birds, no dogs barking, only that emptiness, that lack of everything.

It is only now that I realize how important he has been in our lives and that his mission was to alert us to how magnificent our brothers are, how they look like humans, feel love, jealousy, envy and anger. They need us.

This sudden death reminds us that we have to enjoy life to do what really matters, to love, to work, to enjoy the good moments, and not spend time with silly arguments with our family, our friends, for it suddenly disappears.

Anyway, today is a new day, everything continues, time has not stopped and we have to make it better than yesterday!

Go with God my love, now you are free, without walls and bars around you.

Sonia Mandruca (founder and owner of the Great Apes Sanctuary of Vargem Grande Paulista)