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My Story |
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I was born in 1990 in Guatemala and raised in the U.S. I came to the United States when I was about three years old when I met my stepparents. We needed to come to U.S. because two of my sisters needed medical treatment. At only three years, I was too young for my mom to leave me behind for my father and two brothers to take care of me. Therefore, she brought my baby brother and me to the U.S. My mom worked for the doctor that was giving medical assistances to my sisters and there was not enough room for me to stay at the doctor’s house, so I was put in a foster home. That home belonged to Brad and Brenda Cook and they introduced me to the American life. There I was able to be a child and not an adult. They took care of me for eight years until I was eleven years old. Fortunately, for me when Mama moved back to Guatemala with my brother and sisters she decided that I could stay in the U.S., so I could go to school. I visited my family in Guatemala during summer breaks and returned before school started. Eight years later the summer of 2001, my dreams shattered into a million pieces. After visiting Guatemala at the end of the summer, the U.S. denied my return. My visa was taken away from me and I could not get back because of 9/11. The U.S. Embassy was not allowing anybody in the country from another country. I was frustrated because that was the only life I knew at that time and I could not imagine myself living a different life. I was used to having indoor plumbing, inside bathrooms, having my own room, and not worrying about money at such a young age. I was spoiled with things most people take for granted. I now had to share a four-room house with seven people with only four beds in the whole house. Therefore, at night I had to share a bed with my oldest sister Mariela. Lying on the twin bed with my sister, so close to me that I could feel every breath she took at night was difficult for me to adjust to. I learned to live a life where girls were less important than boys. If parents could only afford to send one child to school then the boy would be sent to school. The girls had to stay home and help keep the house clean. I had to grow up at the age of eleven because I had to help care for my sister Diana that is unable to care for herself. That is when I realized that my life would never be same again. Months passed on and I thought Brad and Brenda had forgotten me and moved on. Nevertheless, in that same year I was proven wrong. Brad came to visit me and tried to get me back in the U.S. The only way for me to be able to return to the U.S., at that time, was to be adopted. Therefore, the process started, and Brad gathered all the paper work together attempting to find a lawyer to take the case. Many lawyers refused the case because I had both parents alive and living together finally, my family and Brad connected with a lawyer named Carla Torres. She told us that she could get the adoption processed because she had good connections with the judges. I remember traveling with my mama to the lawyer’s office. The office was set on the edge of the city. We had to get up one morning to go meet with her. The early morning felt cold and damp because it had had rained the night before. In order to get the office on time we caught the first bus that was going into the city. The bus was already filled with people that were headed into work in the city or going to the super market to buy food, but we finally found a sit. Once in the middle of the city we had to get off the bus that we were in and catch another one. The last bus we caught was old, the seats were all ripped, and some did not even have any padding on them. Once we arrived, we found the building set in a corner surrounded by other taller buildings. Across the street there were people waiting for a bus to come by or pleading for money. We climbed the stairs and took the elevator to the third floor. I remember being so nervous that my hands were shaking like a leaf blowing in the wind. In the office Brad was already waiting for us, so we could start the process of the adoption. Months flew by as we tried to get all the paper work ready to file for the adoption. Finally, a month before the papers were going to file our worst nightmare came true. Mrs. Torres informed us that I would have to be put in a foster home for a period of time, so it would be easier for the adoption process to take place. The foster home I was going to be placed in was where all the prostitution accorded. Brad, Brenda, and my family dropped the adoption process instantly. They told Mrs. Torres, “Thank you for trying to help but that is never going to happen.” She replied, “There’s no other way to do this because she’s living with her parents and they are both alive.” Later on that evening, I realized that I might never be able to go back to my old life. I felt like God was turning against me for some reason. I felt like the wind was taken out of lungs and I could not breath. As if I was drowning in an ocean; moreover, there was nobody to pull me out from the salty water. |
