WMN a Catalyst to Success
My first memory… is the terror that I felt when my father walked into the kitchen with a shotgun and blew my mother away. He had no provocation. He was just crazy. I was three at the time.
My school years… were clouded with insecurity and anxiety. It was difficult to pay attention. I barely passed from one grade to the next. I walked through those years like a zombie-a robot, doing what was expected of me, nothing more.
My first child was born… the day after high school graduation, and I started adult life as a welfare mom. Shrouded in loneliness and despair, I could barely generate the initiative to take care of my child's basic needs. I was simply dead inside; caught in a cycle I thought I could never escape. I was living my mother's life.
My life turned around when… my neighbor insisted that I go to a Women's Mentoring Network workshop with her. The staff recognized my depression. They encouraged me to address my emotional needs with the WMN therapist, my educational needs with the WMN career counselor, my loneliness with the peer support of other WMN women and my life management skills with a WMN volunteer mentor.
Today I have a different life… through a WMN scholarship, I earned an Office Skills Computer Certificate and now work as an administrative assistant in a corporate marketing department. A WMN scholarship funds childcare so that I can attend evening college courses. WMN parenting classes helped me understand that I am a role model for my daughter's success.
Today… I am filled with hope and determination that we will both succeed.