Project Amigo - Valeria Rojas

My name is Valeria Guadalupe Ramírez Rojas, I am 23 years old and I am originally from a community located in the north of the State of Colima, in Mexico. Cofradía of Suchitlán is a place of very hardworking people. A town that wakes up at 4 a.m., day by day, to take a cold water bath and prepare to do the daily tasks, to go out to look for life. 

I'm very proud to belong here. I grew up in a loving family, my mother is the one who took care of taking us forward, my two brothers, my sister and me. Working from sun to sun so we can put food on our table, so that she can send us to school day by day, and I still can't explain how she did it, but I'll be grateful to her all my life. 

I went to elementary school in the community, which is the only level of education we have at our fingertips. And much of the adult population, is the only education he received, most of them are farmers, masons, because of the few employment and improvement opportunities when they were children. They are tiring jobs with minimum wages that are basically enough to buy food from day to day. 

When I graduated from primary education, my determination was not to study anymore. I didn't want to keep seeing my mother get up before the sun, and see her come shuffling with exhaustion late into the night. I wanted to work and to help her. She worked collecting coffee from the plants, and earned around 10 dollars per day, with 10 hours of work. 

When I thought I had no other option, Project Amigo appeared in my life, and they opened the doors to the greatest opportunity of my life, EDUCATION.  They offered me the opportunity to have a full scholarship throughout my education, Junior High, High School and University. It was a dream, thinking about how lucky I was, people who did not know me, were giving me a totally different future. 

They gave me all the tools, in exchange for what? To be better every day, that was my only commitment. Project Amigo, became my family, my support, my hope. In addition to providing me with education, I received personal orientation training, they encouraged me to be a good daughter, a good sister, a good citizen, to have a healthy life, to have values. 

Thanks to those united efforts, today I am who I am. I am a graphic designer, graduated from the University of Colima. I am a professional with a thousand options for development, for growth, and I am trying to take advantage of every opportunity. 
My name is Valeria, part of Project Amigo Forever.