I LEAVE HOME

I LEAVE HOME

We worked in fields and later I decided to go to the capital because a woman who had a business there asked me to come and help take care of her children. My sisters were in agreement that I should go as her employee, but finally it was up to me. I thought I would try it and I ended up going for a few months—5 or 6.

But she treated me so badly. She screamed at me, insulted my parents, used bad language and her children followed suit—talking badly and throwing things at my face. I would cry and say, “God, why did my mother die? Why did my father die?” They would come in my dreams and say “Daughter, don’t worry. We are with you.” But I felt so alone. I wanted affection and they were not there to hug me.

A neighbor saw my boss treating me bad– throwing the clothes at me and shouting hurry up and wash those clothes. I was crying and washing the clothes by hand—in Guatemala we have to wash the clothes by hand. She said, “Ana”, she called me by name. She said, “Ana, she mistreats you, right?” And I said, “Yes!”.

She advised me to go back home to my parents and not stay here to be maltreated like this. You see, she didn’t know that I didn’t have parents. We talked and I told her that I did not have parents and that I had to do this job to help raise my little sister. The neighbor took pity on me and comforted me. She said God will punish this woman who is mistreating you. She said you may not see God now, but God is at your side and he is watching you. She prayed for me and counseled me to have faith.

But the maltreatment continued. The screaming, the hitting and throwing things at me. The last straw was when they complained about the way I put socks on their feet and then kicked me when I was doing it. I decided, in the end, that I could not endure this anymore and I would return home. I demanded my payment, telling her I would leave. After some argument and bullying, she paid me for 3 months, even though I had worked there for 6 months.