Social health worker (OSS)
Orphaned in late childhood due to a car accident
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
La Paz, Bolivia
"My mother and father had a car accident when I was eight years old. My two older brothers were also involved. My life was never the same after that event that took the lives of every single member of my family.
From that day on, I lived with my aunt throughout my youth. She cared for me as if I were her daughter. My aunt was a very strict woman, educationally speaking, towards her own children. Many things were not allowed at home, like having many friends, especially male friends, and spending too much time with them.
I quickly learned to be independent, to help at home, to do household chores, to study on my own, and not to ask for help at the first difficulties encountered. I had just turned fourteen when I truly realized I had become an adult. I was born as the fifth of seven children, almost the youngest, and my older siblings were more than fifteen years older than me. In my life up to that point, I learned a lot by living and doing what my older siblings did.
Life in Bolivia was not easy, and it still isn't. I liked studying when I was little, and I never lost that passion, like opening a book and starting to read. I am a curious person and have always dedicated a lot to my personal growth. I always found comfort in thinking that I could really improve my life by living my own way, despite everything that had happened to me.
I studied pedagogy at university in Bolivia. About 20 years ago, I came here to Italy. In my first year and a half, I worked as a laborer in a company outside Milan. After almost two years, I decided to start studying again to become an OSS (social health worker), here in Milan. I always worked a lot while studying. I missed my family a lot, especially my parents. I would get up early to work as a caregiver before morning classes started at nine. At one in the afternoon, when classes ended, I went back to work, again as a caregiver, for this elderly man who I remember had great difficulty walking. I have always had this strong capacity and sense of responsibility towards the weakest and less fortunate. Perhaps because I was once one of them and know that it is not easy to be understood, cared for, and taught to accept that, even in the most difficult moments of life, there can be opportunities to improve.
Today I work as an OSS in a care center here in Milan. When I look back, I remember that in the moments when I lacked the courage to move forward, I had faith to give me the necessary energy to continue. Religion has been a source of guidance and hope in life for me. It is so beautiful and reassuring to know that there can be love even in the deepest moments of loneliness, and that this feeling of love is enclosed precisely in the faith in the spirituality that each of us possesses. Religion gave me so much courage to face the tragedy that struck me as a child and made me lose my dear parents and siblings. To this day, the only thing faith has not given me is reciprocal love from that soulmate who is still wandering without being found. I have always wanted to have a family of my own. At the moment, however, I am not worried because the Lord knows, and He will guide me in this search as well, just as He did about 27 years ago, when I said goodbye to my parents and siblings for the last time."
