Something Different, Something Needed, Something New
Choices. We take them for granted. Salad for lunch or steak? Stay in or go out? Live in this neighborhood or that one?
Now consider these choices:
Keep going to school or drop out at 10 so you and your 3 younger siblings can eat.
Take your kids with you while you work on the street or work and leave them behind without supervision.
Continue to work a job after your abusive ex finds you or look for a new one even though each day of lost work means no food. [Read more…] about Meet Zenovia
Read more about Erika’s inspirational story!
Elena, one of the first moms to start the Nuevo Camino program, is making incredible strides in protecting herself and her kids from more abuse. She is also sharing what she has with others in need, including her 14-year old niece who continues to run into roadblocks as she asks the government to help her school. Read more about this young advocate’s heart and some really simple things that we can do to help make her dreams a reality for the community of San Juan de Pomacanchi, high in the Andes Mountains of Peru.
When you’re a child facing adult problems, you might end up sleeping under a bridge with your newborn. And maybe even using your own clothes for your daughter’s diapers because, even at 17, you’re a mom and moms will sacrifice anything for their little ones.
This is the reality for Ruth Carina, who left home at 11 because her parents weren’t able to provide for her. She worked odd jobs, and managed to rent a room and still somehow attend school.
When she became pregnant, Ruth Carina’s boyfriend told her that she and the baby could move in with him and his parents. But when little Jhandy was born, her boyfriend and his mother turned her away. She ended up at his grandmother’s house, but when the boyfriend showed up and threatened to kill the baby, Ruth Carina ran away. [Read more…] about Meet Ruth Carina
Why should you believe in Celestina? Because Celestina, for the first time in her life, is learning to believe in herself. If you asked her 6 six weeks ago what she was good at, she’d repeat the story she’d been told: that she’s not a good cook and she’s not good at anything else either for that matter. If you asked her what she liked, she’d pause and consider it, as if for the very first time. [Read more…] about Meet Celestina
Sometimes, the worst prisons aren’t of brick and mortar with a dragon at the gate. They’re the ones in our minds, but the dragons are just as scary. They’re the voices that say you are incapable and unworthy. When you believe them, you are imprisoned already–no chains necessary.
For Elena, the prison is the caste system that said that because she was from a poor mountain village, she was less important. That because she was less literate, she was less bright. And that because she was a woman, she was just plain less.
Elena, you see, is from a small, poor village high up in the Andes outside of Cusco. She is one of 11 children. Her parents are wonderful and loving. They are also poor and illiterate. Elena left the village seeking an education. Instead, she found a man. [Read more…] about Meet Elena
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