By By Teresa Schwarz and Claire Naughton | HOOP Co-founder and Volunteer
María has lived in Arequipa for six years, but just began coming to HOOP this year. Although she’s still quite new to the community, she’s quickly befriended all of the other mothers and is always eager for opportunities to get to know them better: “I’m so happy that I met the HOOP family. They’re always there for me and I’m so grateful, for the workshops, for the psychology….everything has been helpful.”
Moving to Arequipa was a difficult transition for María; she and her husband came in search of work with a young daughter, and the move put a lot of stress on the family: “I had very low self-esteem and I was going through a bad time at home...I had no hope and I was very sad...then I met you all, talked to the HOOP psychologist, and...little by little, my self-esteem got better. And that changed everything.
María is always participating in the workshops and playing an active role in the community: "[HOOP] is something really special because here I found a lot of things that I didn’t have in my life. Here I found a family, people who I could talk to, people I could confide my personal problems to. It’s given me a lot of confidence...it’s something that I couldn’t imagine not having now. If I ever left here, I don’t know what I would do.”
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