My Story

It is my pleasure to greet you through this; God bless you! Praise the Lord my family and I attend a Christian Church; we go on Saturdays. Fortunately, my family and I believe in God and trust our salvation in Him. My family and I are in good health, by the grace of God. My mother is Alida Riz Gomez, and she is 33 years old. She does her best to supply the family´s needs by working as a domestic employee, and she also raises hens to sell. Furthermore, one of my mother´s brothers who lives and works in the United States is giving us a little support; he is so attentive toward us. My father is not in my life because he abandoned us.

I am Sandra Yanira Riz Gomez, and I am 16 years old. I am in 10^th grade; this year I started my professional career to become a teacher, I receive classes at school and the learning is better. Supporting my siblings and me at school is hard for my mother because she does not earn very much, and nowadays, school supplies are very expensive. My deepest dream is to become a teacher; with God´s will, it can come true soon since I already started my career. I would like to learn English; I think it is very interesting language. I wait anxiously for Christmas because my family gets together, and we eat “tamales y ponche” (a typical dish and hot fruit punch) at Christman Eve dinner; it is a very special season for us. Due to limited resources, we do not celebrate our birthdays, but it would be great to have a birthday celebration. My favorite drinks are sodas. The sport I like the most is football. I am so grateful to Living Water for providing me with food and medical care in the clinics; it is a great blessing for me. At home, the top priorities are groceries, corn, clothes and footwear. I hope to receive news from you soon. May God bless you!

Warm regards,

Sandra Yanira Riz Gomez

Translated by: Violeta Hernandez / A-A-C Secretary-Antigua Guatemala