Santos
My name is Santos. I am 59 years old and I am from Juigalpa, Nicaragua.
My name is Santos. I am 59 years old and I am from Juigalpa, Nicaragua.
When I was 9 years old, I had a fever and it was really bad. My mother took me to the doctor. He told her “It is a disease. I don’t guarantee she is going to live.” The doctor said “Your daughter has polio.”
My mother was very jealous, very jealous, and sometimes she would hit me, hit me, just because.
My father was quite a drinker.
I left to work as a maid. When I got married my mother got very angry, and she said that for her, I was dead.
I like to thank Marisela, because she is the one who has included me, she started to visit me. She told me that I had to organise a group where I had to go save. She would come to give me training on how to manage money. I had to report how much money I was making, if I was making money or I was not.
I’m currently selling used clothes. The ones they no longer sell, I grab those used clothes and I pack them in bags. There are a lot of people here who are poor so I give them the clothes.
I have really gone ahead. I have good friends. I like to go shopping, I like to go to the park. It does not embarrass me, I go everywhere, and I am not ashamed of anything. People shouldn’t stay inside because of the disability, they should interact with society. Don’t hide in your house. Go out into the light, go out and be visible! Then other women will see that you are workers.
And now I feel like I’m the happiest I’ve been all my life.
