Morales draws strength and experience from her past to help others
Martha Morales knows firsthand what it means to fight your way out of fear, hopelessness, and isolation when you’re a Solo Mom in a foreign land. At age 19, she and her first daughter left Mexico to join her sister in Los Angeles. Until the birth of her second daughter, she worked to support her family by selling the homemade tamales in mobile home parks and gas stations. But years later she found her calling: working with teen moms at Yampah Mountain High School in Colorado.
In this interview recorded by the website Immigrant Stories, Morales’s life experience and courage in the face of adversity shine through, and those qualities make her a strong and compassionate ally for young women in her community. “I was a teen mom, and my daughters were teen moms. I know how they feel and how tired and depressed they can get. I try to tell them all the time, “You can do it. We can do it, together.” Listen to Martha’s interview, and read more about her at Immigrant Stories, a rich collection of stories collected in the Roaring Forks Valley of western Colorado by Walter Gallacher.
Image via Shutterstock.com
Elisa Martínez, ESME's Guide for Immigration, is a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of Massachusetts. She’s also a Solo Mom to her larger-than-life son, Justin.
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