Saira's Story

My name is Saira. I was born in a village by the name of Fresnillo, Zacatecas. We lived in the small hamlet for the first year of my life, but life was difficult for my mother because she had no schooling and there were no jobs in the village. Since my father did not support her, it became even more difficult. She then decided to move to Ciudad Juarez to look for a better future for me. My mother found a job at a maquiladora, operating a machine, earning minimum wage. She worked nights and slept mornings. My mother continued to work while my aunt took care of me, and her family treated me well. I believe that it was here that I learned family values.

When I was 7 my mom decided to marry a man that I didn't like so my mother sent me to live her sister in Zacatecas. It was there that I attended my 3rd year of school. I returned to live with my mother when I entered the fifth grade. she was already living in the colonia where we presently live, Panfilo Natera. My mother already had my brother Ricardo and they lived in one small room, 4x4 meters and she and her husband started to have problems and I returned to live with my aunt. There I started my 6th year in school. At this time my mother gave birth to my other brother, Carlos, and again I returned to live with her. She became desperate because she wanted me to continue studying but didn't have any money. A neighbor secured a scholarship for me through a doctor named San Juana Mendoza. Thanks to her I was able to finish junior high school with excellent means and because of my grades qualify for another scholarship for high school. However,while I was studying, things were not going right in my mother's marriage, so she decided that we should look for a better life in the United States. We went to Los Angeles and I left my studies behind. I was not accustomed to living another kind of life and it was difficult for my mom to find employment because she was undocumented so I decided to return to Juarez and lived with a neighbor. But I did not go back to school. I decided to go to work and found the factory work very tiring.

When I was 16 I married the man who is still my husband. I was very lonely without my mother but within a year I had a baby girl. I needed to work, but at the same time, I did not want to leave my daughter alone. Around this time my mother returned to Juarez and I felt I had some support. My daughter was 2 years old and my mother was working at a place called Centro Santa Catalina in a sewing cooperative. I knew about that place. When I was a teen of 14 years of age, I remember attending youth meetings with a group called CHICAS DE ESPERANZA Y FE (Girls of Hope and Faith), so I already knew something about that place and I decided to ask Sr. Donna for a job. I asked for a job in the cooperative, but she said, "No, I do not want you to work in the cooperative. I want you to help me in the Escuelita at the Center." I helped with the tutoring and taught the children in every grade level.

It is my experience and belief that God walked me to this place. I have learned a lot of things in this Center. I have learned to move forward with strength to educate my family and to continue studying. Thanks to Sister Donna and to all the good hearted people who give donations to the Center, I am growing each day. I have finished high school and with God's favor I am in my second semester at the university. But over and beyond the education, I have received a leadership scholarship. This Center has taught me the importance of helping others and all the people that come here deeply need our help, for they are poor, people of low economic resources and have even greater needs than I have. This Center has awakened in me a sense of generosity and hope.

Today I work as a teacher in the kinder. When I started teaching kinder I thought, "I won't last more than a year with these little children." But now I have been here four years. I have twenty precious children in my class. I love helping them take their first steps toward reading.

Soon I will be able to build my house with God's help. In my family we are all healthy, my husband works in a maquiladora with low wages but doing alright, just thankful for our health. I love all my family and I am progressing very well, all due to this Center.