My mom had to start working at sixteen because her dad abandoned her family and her brother was only fourteen. My grandma didn’t want to go out and find work, because she only knew how to clean and cook like her mom taught her, and like her grandma taught her mom; how it’s always been in the history of women.

My mom had to leave high school, so she wasn’t able to study biology, which was always her dream. My grandma helped her to find a job as a secretary for a law firm. With what she earned at the job, my family was able to support themselves, but the most important thing was that my mom’s brother was able to continue his studies, because he was on track to go to a private university. My grandma begged my mom to keep working until my brother graduated. But my brother didn’t do that; he left university and left far away, casting aside the years of work my sister underwent.

My mom worked for much of her life, until, when she was more then fourty years old, she managed to finish high school and study for the career she always dreamed of.