An Homage to My Mother and my Guatemalan Heritage Adrienne Ferguson I come from a humble family of seven. I have three sisters and one brother, and nothing is cherished more among us than our heritage. My Guatemalan roots always manifest a strong influence on my daily life and have sculpted the person that I am today and what I do to make a difference in the world. My mother is an immigrant from a perilous zone in Guatemala City, Guatemala. She came to the United States when she was very young and knew very little English. And ever since I was a little girl, my mom would speak to me in Spanish. She loves her home country very much, but she has never falsely portrayed the immense poverty there. She shared numerous stories of the suffering she, her family, and acquaintances experienced and witnessed. Having lived a humble early life, it was imperative to her that her children are grateful for every opportunity they have and that they have a desire to serve the less fortunate. And despite still living humbly and suffering financial burdens here in the U.S. presently, she would always emphasize the importance of service and giving back to the Latinx community. My mom was my first teacher on the importance of service, and after seeing her go out and serve the less fortunate and Hispanic community, I learned to do the same. My mom always taught me to use my bilingual abilities to serve others. At ten years old, I started to volunteer at the Grace Clinic, which provides free medical care to underprivileged families. The majority of the patients are from Mexico, Central, and South America, and tend to speak very little English. The doctors would need a way to communicate with
the patients, so I would translate. I didn’t want anyone to lack their basic health necessities; thus, I was grateful that I could put my talents to good use. Also, to help the Hispanic community abroad, I have gone on six mission trips to a poor rural town in Villa Nueva, Guatemala called La Esperanza. One of the most prevalent injustices I had witnessed in the community was the lack of social mobility - the poverty in the towns was a perpetual cycle, that the children knew they could not escape. I recall speaking to the little children there about school, and unfortunately, many of them were disenchanted with the idea of education because they all had jobs, and those jobs were helping them literally put food on the table. To them, school behaved as a distraction for them from instantaneously making money, which made sense, many in the La Esperanza community were living day-to-day. Nonetheless, it was beyond disheartening to know how these children truly felt about the concept of education and that many of these children-not even 10 years old- held jobs and were carrying the burden of being a breadwinner for their family; accordingly, I started a charity called Esperanza Para Guatemala (Hope for Guatemala), and all of the proceeds go towards the basic necessities and school supplies for poor Guatemalan children. I founded this organization because although I cannot fix a country, I can instill hope for at least a few children. By providing funds for food and school supplies, my goal is to provide a light of hope to these children and the stepping stones to a brighter future. This organization thankfully has been able to fulfill its mission for the past six years and ongoing!
Gratitude, humility, generosity, and grit. She was the embodiment of each and every one of these virtues.
9
