Lina's Story

Lina tells me she would like to share the story of her childhood to help others understand how she became who she is, and why she wants so very much to help suffering children find a safe and loving place to call home. 

Back in 2010 Lina and I sat together once a week for several weeks while she shared her story for me to write. It was hard for her to tell and hard for me to hear. Often as she told it, we both ended up with tears in our eyes.

(Written by Mago en Pátzcuaro)

The Short Story 

Lina was born into severe poverty on the outskirts of Mexico City, often not having enough to eat. 

Over the years she witnessed her mother being horribly beaten many times by two different husbands. She was never beaten herself, but also witnessed her older siblings being beaten.

At 4 years old, she and her baby brother, 2 years old, cried in each other’s arms for hours alone in the corner of the one room where they lived, their older siblings not home, and mom, a live in “maid”, seldom able to come home at all. 

Not long after that, they moved into a dangerous neighborhood in the dark of the night, To enter they had to tear a hole in the tar paper shack where they would live with a great deal of fear, for the next several years. 

At 6 years old Lina walked an hour through "scary" neighborhoods to go to school. She began working in people's homes at 7. She was tall and awkward and innocent which caused her many problems over the years. 

Click below if you want to read the long story.  It is full of details, some difficult to read, that bring to life the inner strength Lina needed in order to survive and become the amazing person she is.