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Marlyn Garcia ♦
Not everyone has an incredible childhood spent playing with toys or children of their age. Some children have adult jobs and responsibilities, like my “Nona” Maria Del Carmen Reyes did when she was young. My grandmother’s childhood was not easy. She faced many struggles.
Nona fled her native country Mexico at the age of eight to go to the neighboring country of Guatemala. She and her two younger brothers needed to leave with their mother who worked as a cook for the people who collected gum from the manilkara zapota tree. For her, it was difficult to leave Mexico since she was only eight years old and was separated from her two older sisters who stayed with some relatives. She was heartbroken because she was not leaving a sack of potatoes behind but a piece of her heart, her sisters. Last February, when I went to visit my grandmother at her ranch in San Ignacio, I asked her about her sisters. She told me of the moment she said goodbye to them, and tears began racing down her cheeks as she remembered.
Nona's ranch in San Ignacio
In the 1960s in Guatemala, instead of playing with dolls or cars, many eight-year-old children like Nona were in the fire hut cooking, or in the field planting crops to make a living and have food on the table. Victoria, Nona’s mother, worked in the woods, and Nona had to follow her through muddy areas, but Nona got tired and preferred to stay with her godmother. My grandma was a little bit picky. She did not like to walk on the mud, and up to now at seventy-two years old she still has that habit. Nona was sent to school even though they were a poor family. They had enough faith and love to keep the family strong.
Nona did not have school supplies, but she was not ashamed of going to school with a cardboard box for her school bag or with one pencil and one book because it was not her fault that she was poor. “Para que tener verguenza de donde venimos?” she said during our conversation. She never denied her family and from where she came. She was criticized, laughed at, and gossiped about at school by other children, but she always held her head high and ignored them.
My Nona had to work, selling corn tortillas to the neighbors or to anyone so she could assist her godmother with their necessities.
She also had to sell all types of bakings after she arrived home from school. There were times when she was unable to sell everything, but she kept trying, knowing she needed to take some money home. She would tell herself tomorrow is a new day and that if she was granted life, she would keep trying. Sometimes she woke up crying and saying she couldn’t do this anymore. She wished her life could be different and she could have her mother by her side and finance to survive. But then she soon realized that whatever she went through were life lessons. So, every evening My Nona continued to go from house to house trying her luck.
My grandmother’s childhood was unfortunate, but her struggles made her grow into a confident person who knew the importance of hard work. My Nona never gave up in life and always kept climbing new steps, which made her a woman who appreciates all that she has. ♦
Photos by Marlyn Garcia
Marlyn Garcia is a primary education major at the University of Belize. She lives in San Ignacio and enjoys handcrafting and listening to music.