I am an immigrant. I decided to travel to another country with my son.
I am the daughter of divorced parents. Since my parents divorced, my life and those of my brothers became a terror. My mother left. My father decided to leave home. My brothers and I stayed with my grandmother and all my uncles and aunts lived in my grandmother's house. Despite that, we had a grandfather who was there for me, he was like my father, he loved us so much. Over time, he got sick and he died. My life from that moment became torture because I refused to accept that he was no longer with me.

I was the one who suffered the most because I was tormented by knowing
that my parents were gone and I suffered from violence. Because my uncles
abused me, over time it got worse. I grew up. My mother returned and she
decided to emigrate to give a better life to my siblings. She took my brother
and I stayed with my other siblings. She always made us money so I could
buy what I wanted for myself and my brothers. There were times when I just wanted to run away from home to a place where I didn't know any one or anything but I couldn't. One day, I decided to leave home because I couldn't live there anymore. I left without knowing anyone, without knowing where I was going. I arrived at a place where I met a boy.

I thought my life would change with him, but things didn't go my way. My
life was much worse. His family treated me badly. I got pregnant. I felt like I
wouldn't be able to do it all on my own. I decided to leave and go to another
country. I found the opportunity to emigrate to another country but at the
same time I didn't want to leave because of my siblings.

I had to think about my baby's future so I decided to go and emigrate. I
had my baby in the United States. I saw my mother and my brother again.
I suffered from postpartum depression but I didn't give up because I had
someone who needed a mother's love. Over time, I started healing. I started
studying because my dream is to be a doctor. 2 years later, and my baby is
growing up. I met a boy who now supports me a lot with my studies and
with my baby. He loves us very much. Our life has changed since we met
him. He has lived many happy moments. Now I feel very calm knowing that
despite everything, whatever suffering my son goes through, he has a better
future and I would never abandon him or allow anyone to hurt him because
he is everything to me.

© Karla. All rights reserved. If you are interested in quoting this story, contact the national team and we can put you in touch with the author’s teacher.