Up Before Dawn
Doña Gloria is all set up and ready for another morning selling Guatemalan street-fare.
The night air is cool and quiet, occasionally marked by the distant echoes of barking dogs, or perhaps the roar of a motorcycle accelerating down the empty streets.
It is only 3:00AM after all, and most people, even those who work early, are still sleeping. The sun won’t even be up for about 3 more hours.
Yet for Doña Gloria, it’s the beginning of what will be a long and arduous day.
Despite her battle with chronic illness, she must start early if she is going to be able to prepare food to sell, drop her youngest daughter, Joselyn, off at school, and get her food stand set up in front of the public health center in time for the morning rush.
The Work Day Begins
Sunlight pours into the streets of Huehuetenango, serving as a gentle reprieve from the briskness which still hangs in the morning air. The city yawns one last time, then begins to fill with the familiar sounds of cars, motorcycles, buses, and trucks: brakes squealing, engines groaning, and drivers sporadically honking, like an all-horns orchestra with no conductor.
The first customers arrive, many of them from the public health center and others who stop in passing at the busy intersection on their comings and goings.
Doña Gloria serves them her delicious, homemade fare on disposable styrofoam plates, which don’t quite do justice to all her early morning labor in front of the two-burner tabletop stove that sits under the stairs in her apartment.
Her offerings are all Guatemalan staples: “chuchitos” (similar to Mexican tamales), “enchiladas” (similar to Mexican tostadas but with different toppings), “arroz con leche” (a rice beverage with milk, sugar, and spices), and “dobladas de papa” (similar to Mexican empanadas with a potato-and-chicken filling).
“I feel like a new woman” she says, filled with happiness and joy about her work as a self-employed food vendor. Alongside this work, she also sometimes works as a babysitter in the afternoons.
Strong, motivated, and making wiser choices for the good of her family, by the grace of God, Doña Gloria and her family have come so far from where they once were.
Redemption and Reconciliation
Things haven’t always been going as well for Doña Gloria and her family as they are now.
Years ago, the family was broken apart and living in different places. Doña Gloria was not receiving adequate care for her illness, and she was barely scraping by washing people's clothes and receiving charity. She was also in an unhealthy relationship.
She and her children have grown so much. Not just as individuals - but as a family.
Doña Gloria has 6 children, but years ago, only Joselyn lived with her. Now, 5 of her 6 children are living at home, including 2 who used to live in institutionalized settings.
Not only that, but they’re working together to care for their mother and the household they share. They help with the expenses of the home and they even bought a refrigerator for Doña Gloria to help her with her food business.
Life has been full of difficulties for her and her family, but Doña Gloria knows she isn’t alone. “It isn't easy, but it’s God who gives us strength and fortitude, and we’re making it thanks to His help and the support of Story [Intl].”
A Brighter Tomorrow
At around noon or after she’s run out of homemade snacks to sell, Doña Gloria heads home and takes care of some chores before heading back out the door to pick up her daughter.
Joselyn is at Story’s offices, where she goes after school to receive tutoring support and a free lunch. This helps Joselyn, a bright student, to excel in her studies, and also gives Doña Gloria a bit of time after work to get things taken care of.
At about 4:30PM she arrives to pick Joselyn up, and they’ll head home together.
A motivated entrepreneur, some days Doña Gloria is also able to pick up some babysitting work in the afternoons. Her resilience and hard work are inspiring proof that she is an overcomer who is willing to fight for a brighter future for herself and her family.
The future is looking up for Doña Gloria and her family. They recently outgrew the “intensive” support that our team of social workers and psychologists were providing, and are much more independent, stable, healthy, and happy than they once were.
While they’re not fully independent yet, they’re on that path. Our team continues to provide follow-up as well as support services specifically for Joselyn and one other of Doña Gloria’s children.
Day by day, they’re getting closer and closer to true independence.
The Work Still to be Done
Doña Gloria has had a life that sadly causes many people to turn into the sad, scary statistics that motivate much of our work.
Thank God, what we’re seeing instead is a beautiful story unfolding.
Too often positive realities are told as stories and negative realities are told as statistics. We talk about poverty and malnutrition and death with numbers and percentages, while we talk about transformed lives and overcoming difficult circumstances with stories of REAL people.
Perhaps it’s easier on our fragile hearts that way.
Despite the weight of it, we MUST remember that every hard-to-stomach statistic also has a story behind it—a story of people with names, faces, sorrows, and dreams. REAL people.
There is much work still to be done in Guatemala. If you don’t already, I hope you’ll consider supporting our work and join the fight to tell better stories—stories of hope, redemption, reconciliation, joy, and overcoming.
Thank you to all of you who are making today a little brighter for people like Doña Gloria.