“A little background. I’m originally from Honduras. I now have two daughters.

I was raised by my mother and my grandmother; I have 4 sisters.

When I decided to go to America, I was 15 years old. I had never left my country, so my trip was a new adventure. When I left Honduras, I didn’t know what my destination was. The trip was a month and I had to travel by train. I spent a few days without eating so my journey was hard and difficult, but despite that long and difficult adventure, I learned a lot about life.

My experience in the United States has been kind of strange and good. I could say I’ve met good people, but I have also had to deal with people who don’t like Latinos. It’s understandable because in the world there are good people and bad people too, but I’m lucky because I have known more good people than bad people.

Not all of us are fortunate to have loving parents and family who take care of us. When we look for love or understanding, it is difficult to think that someone else could love us because if our own family did not love us, how will a stranger person love us? This is why we close our heart and we get angry and we do not let anyone in, so each young immigrant has a different problem. And the only thing they need is people who make them feel loved and who interact with us, include us, who love and support without judging who we are or were.

I have gone through difficult stages, but the time I spent with ICA has been good. They have given me hope and they helped me a lot and I have gotten well. I am grateful to all of them – ICA is always available for help and I am very encouraged by my progress and how I’ve learned new things.  

It is difficult to help young people like us, not all of us are responsible, respectful, and educated, but I believe that every person deserves a second chance because sometimes we only look at the bad things about people without knowing their history.  In my experience, there have been families from ICA that were willing to help youth like me, I am very grateful for their support.

Thank you to all the people who help us young people and people in these situations.”