My Story

I will start by giving you thanks for taking the time to read my update. I walk for ten minutes to arrive to the feeding program. I am Iker Mario Jason but everybody affectionately calls me Chino. I am 14 years old and my birthday was in February. I take classes in my village and I am an eighth-grade student. My school is about fifteen minutes away from my home. I love Mathematics but Social Science is a little difficult for me. In my free time, I help to clean the house. At the moment, I am receiving my classes and homework by whatsapp due to the pandemic.

The people who live in the house are my mother, stepfather, siblings and me. Unfortunately, my biological father abandoned us many years ago. He does not help us economically and we do not know anything about him. My stepfather has lived with us since nine years ago. He has his own business assembling stages for concerts and other events but he does not have work right now due to the current situation.  My mother works in the public bathrooms cleaning and supervising them. She is covering the home expenses. We are members of the Christian Church; we watching the sermons on TV. I am grateful to God because we are in good health except for my grandmother because she suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes. Fortunately, she already visited the doctor and she is in medical treatment. In spite of the hard health situation that we are currently facing in our country, our Lord has been taking care of us. We trust in our Lord's mercy and that He will put His healing hands over all people who are suffering during this pandemic. I would like to receive a letter from you and have the opportunity to share our life experiences with each other.

Thinking of you!

Iker Mario Jason Rosales Montenegro

AAC NOTE: After the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in our country (March 13, 2020), our President ordered the closure of all the schools in order to prevent children becoming affected by this virus. We do not know when the schools will open again.  However, most of the schools are assigning homework to their students to cover the content for the current school year. As a team, we are praying that God takes control of this situation soon so that we may continue on with our lives.

Translated by: Esther Hernández, AAC Secretary/Antigua