Maria Gabriela
“You have to stop going to school because I love you,” Maria Gabriela tried to explain to her three daughters as the crisis intensified this past year. It became unsafe for them to attend school which deeply frustrated this family of driven women. Her oldest, Leisel Massiel, has plans to work in a bank and study English. Seventeen-year-old, Angelica Maria, wants to study accounting. And at age eleven, Hannia Michell, already dreams of becoming a doctor like some of her mother’s cousins. But during the violence and upheaval of this past year, these women were forced to stay home while expenses kept piling up. “It wasn’t even safe to leave the house,” remembers Maria Gabriela.
Maria Gabriela used to work but she lost her job, along with over 350,000 others, when the crisis caused many businesses to close and/or severely cut back. Her husband continues working and trying to maintain the house but does not earn enough. Maria Gabriela has been out applying to numerous places but they all respond the same: “We’re not hiring.”
Now, they are struggling to keep up with the
costs of daily life: food, house needs, and
clothing for growing girls. With the
daughters back in school, education expenses
are accumulating again and Maria is
desperate to get out of her house and help
her husband shoulder the burden. “This has
affected us enormously. I am very
proactive,” she says. “I am poor, but I am a
hard worker and I’m honest.” She believes
Fresco Express is a great opportunity for
her and she is motivated because they need
food, to improve their home, and most of
all, she is motivated to provide for her
daughters. “What I couldn’t reach, I want
them to achieve.”