Project Description
Cathy: In Her Own Words
“My family consists of three people which includes me, a 17-year-old girl, my mom, and my twin brother. We are a small family but very content with each other and never felt like we needed anybody else. Growing up our lives felt like a light switch controlled by an anonymous being. The lights would go on and off, one minute we were happy the next we were in trepidation. It was a continuum until the lights never went back on and we were forced to make the uncomfortable our comfortable.
A mother’s love always fascinates me they go through so much enough to break them down but whenever they turn to their children they put on a smile like a world is made of flowers. In our society, people pity single moms but they should respect them for having the courage to do it alone. Whenever we needed something there are some days my mom had no idea how she’ll do it, but every single day it still gets done. She worked so hard to put food in our stomachs even if it meant starving herself, the lengths she will go to.
We were followed and threatened because of the name we carry. Every time we left the house we had to be very conscious of our surroundings. Greetings were not just greetings and friends were not just friends, this made it very hard to trust anyone. Coming to the states all we wanted was an escape and to be left alone but life had so much in store. When we came to the Catholic Worker’s House and met Larissa our lives changed.
For the first time, we felt heard. I never met someone so giving. As time went by we learned that we could actually develop trust in someone outside our little family. I never knew what the feeling was like to have an extended family and was never curious about having one either but living here has completely changed my view. She has helped me and my family heal a wound that we couldn’t see and proved that you didn’t have to be blood-related to be family, she did all she could to make us feel warm and welcomed and even gave my mom a job. The switch that was once turned off turned back on.”