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Interview to Perafita’s Mayor

Ramon Matavera Franch was born on 25th September 1937 in a small village called Perafita in Catalonia. At that time, in Spain, there was a big war conflict, the Spanish civil war. At that moment, Ramon was staying in a farmhouse called la Serra, where he is living right now.

Ramon was born in the same house where he lived, because in those times the health services were scarce and the means of transport too.

When he was four or five years, he started going to school in Perafita. The girls were taught how to sew, and the boys were taught maths, languages… The classes were separated between boys and girls. When he finished studying in Perafita he went to a boarding school in Manlleu called “La Salle”. There, he studied maths, languages, business… When he finished all his studies, he should have started working at a bank but, unfortunately, his parents died and he had to return home to work there as a farmer.

Later he presented himself in the elections in 1972 and he became the mayor of the town until 1987. As he said to us:

“From the town hall we did what we could; There was no way to cover any help, it was very complicated, but we could pave the main street and the church street.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZukG7PW_cM