Maria's Story

In 1955 when I was nineteen, my godmother brought me to the Refuge, eight months pregnant and terrified. I will never forget the Sister who came to the door, wearing a white starched habit and offering a welcoming smile. Sister Angelica accompanied me to the dormitory. At that time, the mothers and babies were in one room on one side of the hallway, the expectant mothers on the other.  Beds for the mothers were arranged in long row and cribs for the babies were lined up next to their mother’s bed. I was grateful for the place to sleep and the luxury of a shower with hot water.

 

My daughter, Irene, was born in a nearby hospital. Sister Angelica showed me how to nurse her. While I attended school, Sister Angelica watched over her in the nursery. At night Irene slept in a crib by my bed.

 

Everyone at the Refuge had a job to do. We began our day at 7:00 A.M. I was given charge of sweeping the patio. Later I helped prepare meals. At first, fish cooked on coals was the only thing I knew how to make, but everyone liked it and soon I learned how to cook other meals. The Sisters raised chickens ducks, and geese, and one pig. We canned preserves from peaches, quince and plums. We used a gigantic pan to make marmalade from the fruit, then put the batch in glass jars and stored them in the storeroom. For breakfast we had a cup of tea with milk, oats, or hot cereal and bread and butter. The Sisters always made sure we had enough to eat.

 

We all helped with cleanup. We had a cement washtub with cold water for washing clothes and diapers. On Sundays we attended Mass. When my daughter was six months old, I was offered a job in the kitchen and a salary of 20 pesos a month. With my first paycheck I bought baby clothes, shoes, and material for making a skirt and blouse. Every market day, Sister Gloria and I took a bus at 6:00 A.M. to the open market to buy vegetables.

 

My Irene is now 30 years old, the light of my life, a strong and independent woman who also works at the Refuge bringing comfort and understanding to the young girls who come to the refuge as frightened as I once was. I celebrated my seventy-fourth birthday this year. The Refuge was the first place where I was welcomed and supported. Thank you for caring about the young lives that flourish here. 

 

 

Maria and her daughter

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