Doña Catarina’s Story

This month we have had the privilege of hearing people share their personal stories. Below is the story of Doña Catarina, a woman we have grown quite fond of. She was very excited to share her story with us and with you. Please take a look.

My name is Catarina. I was born in San Juan Cotzal during the 1940’s, but I grew up in Santa Avelina. As a little girl, I only went to school for two years. When I knew the alphabet and could write my name, my mother told me that I could not study anymore. It was time for me to work. All of my life I have felt sad that my mother didn’t give me the opportunity to continue my studies. I have felt like this is a disadvantage in my life; that maybe I do not know very much or that I am not as smart as others because I only went to school for two years.

When I was ten years old my parents sent me to work on the coffee plantation with my father and three brothers. Life on the coffee plantation was very hard. The only good thing about it is that I learned to speak some Spanish. When people were speaking in Spanish, I would pay close attention and listen to what they were saying. That is how I taught myself to speak the language. But I suffered a lot living and working on the coffee plantation. I thought I found an escape from that life when I met Nicolás. He was eighteen at the time, and I was only fourteen, but we got married. Maybe I suffered even more as his wife. We were only married two years and then I left him. He drank all of the time and he beat me. So I took our baby girl, Griselda, and went back to live with my parents.

When I was eighteen, I fell in love and married a man named Gabriel. Oh, those were wonderful years! Gabriel was so good to me. He never drank, never hit me, and he cared for Griselda like she was his own child. We were married over seventeen years, and we had six more children together. We lived in the village of Cajixay.

Then in 1980 violence broke out in the Ixil. One day, I was in San Juan Cotzal taking care of my mother who was sick. Gabriel was at home with our kids. Early in the morning guerilla soldiers arrived at our house. They killed Gabriel. Our children watched it happen. Soon after all of Cajixay was destroyed. They burnt it to the ground and left us with nothing. In order to survive, I took my younger children and went to the coffee plantation. There I would work for several months at a time, earning all of the money that I could. On pay day, I would come back to the Ixil and give the money to Griselda and her husband, who were working to rebuild a home for us. I never returned to live in Cajixay, but stayed in San Juan Cotzal, and went to work on the coffee plantation every several months.

The 1980’s were really hard years for me. I lost my husband, I lost my home, and I lost two of my little boys ---one to the measles and another in a horse accident. But God was always watching out for me. In 1989, I married for the third time. Pedro and I have been together ever since. He has helped me to survive.

Now we live in the Agros village of Belén. I am so thankful to be here! We have a home, a place to grow our food, and a little bit of forested land where we can gather firewood. (Before we had to buy firewood.) Agros has helped us a lot and I am very grateful. Probably, the best thing I have received from Agros is learning how to work the land: how to plant, cultivate and reap a harvest. Pedro and I are working as part of the pea project. With the money I earn, I am helping to pay for my grandson’s studies at the university. Today, I am proud to say that all twenty-two of my grandchildren are receiving an education. That has been a dream of mine, something that I was denied as a child. It makes me so happy to see all of my grandchildren studying, and I hope someday when I am even more old and gray that they will all take care of me. I praise God for all the blessings in my life---- for my family, my home and that we now have the things we need. I am very blessed and happy.