Program: In First Person

We travel today to Cuilapa, Guatemala. Edith lives with her three daughters, her two sisters, and her mother. Edith’s neighborhood of Canton Utzumazate is quiet and beautiful, but doesn’t have access to safe drinking water, electricity or paved roads. The families living there must buy safe water weekly to cook their food and practice safe […]

Lorena, Victor and Gloria’s druthers attend the John Paul I Girl’s Home in Buenaventura, Colombia. The pandemic has brought economic problems to all three families including unemployment. All three parents have difficulties with distance learning. They don’t have internet access and the necessary tools for their daughters to complete their school work. Lorena, Victor, and […]

In the final testimonial of our In First Person series, we return to Cúcuta, Colombia. María Alejandra lives as a single mother with her five children in the Navarro Wolf neighborhood. She is expecting another child, and with the risks of her high-risk pregnancy now compounded by the ongoing pandemic, has been unable to work […]

Roxana lives in the Nuevo San Salvador human settlement of the San Juan de Lurigancho district of Lima, Peru with her three children. Roxana’s children attend the Fe y Alegría School. Her two youngest children, Brisa and Fabián, are attending virtual classes in the morning using Roxana’s cell phone. It has been difficult for both […]

Mirtha is a single mother who lives in Lima, Peru with her young daughter, Brigid. Both of them live in a settlement called Sacred Valley that is located in San Juan de Lurigancho, the most populous district of the city. Before the pandemic, Brigid attended Fe y Alegria School No. 26. Since the school is […]

Angela’s two daughters used to attend the Veracruz Girl’s Home boarding school run by the Congregation of Sisters Little Apostles of Redemption in Bogota. Angela lives with her two daughters, her sister and her sister’s six-month-old baby girl. The quarantine has made it very difficult for Angela to make ends meet for her household, and […]

Today, we travel to Guatemala to speak with Sra. Lidia and Sra. Aura, who are weathering the pandemic with their families on farms in Planes de Sumpango. Before COVID-19, Sra. Lidia’s children and Sra. Aura’s grandchildren attended Mother Anna Vitiello school. Now that the school is temporarily closed, the children have returned home to the […]

Nuevo Horizonte is a human settlement on the northern coast of Peru outside the city of Nuevo Chimbote. In this new video of In First Person Jaime and Yuri give their tesmony on how they are working to keep their six children from falling behind in school without electricity or internet access. “Human settlements” in Peru refer to […]

Today’s video of In First Person finds us in Medellin, Colombia. Joana is a single mother of six, who works in Medellin’s informal economy as a street peddler. Darcy is the grandmother and guardian of her two grandchildren: Juan and José Gabriel. Juan is in second grade and José Gabriel Is in fourth grade. The […]

A series of brief, powerful videos about life during the pandemic for some of the most vulnerable communities in Latin America. Women give voice to the challenges they and their children have faced during COVID-19.

Today’s video of In First Person finds us in Medellin, Colombia. Joana is a single mother of six, who works in Medellin’s informal economy as a street peddler. Darcy is the grandmother and guardian of her two grandchildren: Juan and José Gabriel. Juan is in second grade and José Gabriel Is in fourth grade. The […]

Gloria, her husband and children live in Gloria’s parents’ house in Guatemala City. Currently, only Gloria is able to work to provide food to her family. To learn more about how Gloria’s family is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, watch this week’s video. Alongside most of Latin America, Guatemala is being hit hard by the […]