Raising Hope for Healing Survivors

The boy was born in Quiche, a region in Guatemala that is known for being poor.  When his father passed away he was only one and he was raised by his mother.  The problem for him started when his step-father begain abusing him physically and also verbally.  He was just a little boy.  When his mother tried to defend him she was also a victim of the violence.  

When he descided to leave home he headed to Antigua, Guatemala.  He know the city becuase he had been there before with his mother.  He had never slept on the streets but had to and he also begged for money to buy food.  Someone on the street told him about Asociacion Nuestros Ahijados.  We have a shelter for women, children and men who are homeless and need a place to stay.  He arrived at our shelter in bad shape and returned night after night.  We realiazid he had no where to go so Asociacion Nuestros Ahijados descided to help him but placing him in a foster family home.  

When we investigated his life we found out that he changed his name.  He did this to become someone else and forget the past.  It is very difficult to forget the violence from his past but at least he was safe now.

After putting his in a foster home we descided to put him in out Human Trafficking program so he could receive more help from our progam.  We reallocated him to a home in a nearby town and he is going to school.  He is happier now and like the family that he is living with.  He doesn't need to change his name to hide his life now, that is all now in the past.

Sandra is a Young lady who has had a complicated life in spite of her Young age, she was enrolled in the ITEMP program due to the sexual abuse she had been a victim of since she was a child. Sandra told us when she turned 7 years old her mother sold her with a 52 year old man because the family lacked of resources. Sandra’s mother told her to go with this man and she would pick her up later, she should also do whatever he would ask her to. Some years later the scene got repeated one more time, she was sold one more time for an adult man to abuse from her. Sandra’s problem didn’t quite finish there, sometime after this one of her step brothers tried to abuse from her as well but an uncle of her didn’t let it happen.

What Sandra had gone through affected her physically and psychologically and gave her enough reasons to abandon her house at age 14. When this happened, she met Gabriel. We may say they met in the moment she needed it the most, she needed love and affection so after a while Gabriel proposed her to go live with him. The only inconvenient was that Gabriel was already father of three children but Sandra didn’t care; the only thing she wanted was to leave everything behind and start over with someone she could trust.

Sandra and Gabriel have lived together for two years so far and it hasn’t been easy since they have had to face the economical problems of our country. In the middle of the year 2012, Sandra´s husband was shot three times at work, while driving his tuk-tuk (small cabs used to transport people around) while they tried to steal it from him, he was left unconscious and unable to move his arm for a few days but thanks to Gabriel’s parents they were able to overcome this situation.

During September, Sandra was enrolled as victim #27 of the ITEMP department. When she joined the program she got both medical and psychological assistance as well as clothes and shoes, She was also provided with a small economical support in order to cover some other expenses. She was also encouraged to continue studying.

She is very happy with the lifestyle Gabriel has provided to her because of the fact that he treats her with respect and they are both currently planning to get married in order to start a family of their own.