Alicia, Born in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. House Cleaner, Mother, and Wife
"That day, I said to my mom, ‘I’m leaving, because I cannot be here. There isn’t anything to eat. My son needs food, and I don’t have anything to give him.’ My mom said, ‘No daughter, don’t go.’ ‘Momma, I have to leave, because if I don’t go, we’ll all die. There isn’t food. There isn’t anything. And my mom, with pain in her heart, said, ‘Do you know what? I’ll take care of the boy.’ That day, looking at his little face in the night, I remember … he hugged me tight, he wanted to give me a very strong hug. And I told him, ‘It’s all going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.’ My son was two years old…He was practically a baby … And I saw my son’s face as he was running here and there, all over the place like a little boy who didn’t know any better. I was able to give him a kiss on the forehead, and I told him, ‘My son, I have to go.’ ‘Yes Mommy, I’ll see you tonight.’ It was ten in the morning and I didn’t see him again. I didn’t see him again for 16 years.”