My Story

Hello! My name is Erika Liseth De Leon Tino. This year I will turn nineteen years old. I dropped out of school some years ago, but I passed 6^th grade. Currently, I work as a housemaid at Zacualpa. Thanks to it, I help my family with some money. I am happy because the feeding program is open again. The time it was closed due to the pandemic, I missed attending it. For me to get there, it takes forty minutes by walking. My father goes to the coast to pick sugar cane during six months, to earn a living. After coming back from there, he works as a day laborer here. Thanks to it, he provides for us economically. My mom stays home, raising domestic animals which she sells when needed. When my father is at the coast, and comes home every two weeks, we prepare food which we enjoy altogether and spend a good time. We do not usually celebrate Christmas due to the lack of resources. We do like this special season.

At the moment, we are attending Prince of Peace Church that is located an hour from home by bus. We got very sad the time the church was closed due to the pandemic, because services were irregular. Thank God everything has been getting normalized little by little. We live at my paternal grandmother’s house, but we do not share the household expenses. There are two rooms and separate kitchen. The house is made of mud-brick, tin sheet roof and dirt floor. It has electricity and we get water from a well, for we do not have running water. The house is in good condition. Pandemic did affect my family. It affected the expenses that my mother had each month, every time she went to therapy with my little brother with special necesities. There was lack of work and our food expenses were affected, considering that food supplies is a greatest need at home. For that reason, I thank to the feeding program for the grocery bags we received in those difficult moments. It was all a great help and nourished my family and me. For now, we are doing well. Lastly, I want you to know, my mom gave this information to an Evangelism team member to share with you my last news. Thank you for reading this. This is all for now. God bless you!

Kind regards,

Erika Liseth De Leon Tino

Translated by: Febe Ruiz / AAC Secretary-Antigua