escuincle: alicia ballagh
  
 
 
 
 

childhood story

  
Every year my mother and her friends would do fundraisers to collect toys and gifts to give out to other families during Christmas. When I was about 10 years old I remember helping them prepare the gift bags and handling candy, eating one or two here and there. It was a happy time and the mood was very festive although everyone was working. Then the trucks were loaded and we went to a small village not too far from where we lived. I asked my mother how we would find the people to give the presents to since the truck stopped on a street rather than a location. I don’t remember the answer but I do remember the first few people that walked by the truck and the baskets started being handed out. Within a few minutes the word had spread and people were coming from everywhere and everything was gone. More people kept coming but we were out of gifts. I can still remember their faces, their smiles and the way I felt inside. This childhood experience changed my life forever.

Another anecdote that I remember took place around the same time. I had lived in New York so when I moved to Ecuador I took my toys with me and among them a Monopoly that my uncle had given me. I remember playing with my 3 cousins and they couldn’t read English so I would translate the cards for them. Needless to say I always won and they never knew I cheated.

 

featured artist: maria bravo poet/sketch artist, méxico
 
 
Maria was born in Nayarit, Mexico. She has been involved in several artistic areas including: poetry, writing and sketching. She has also participated in designing programs to empower Hispanic youth and promote artistic creation in the Hispanic community such as: Expresiones Project and REACH Youth Project. She lives in Columbia SC.
 
 
 
pencil sketch created by maria bravo, inspired by alicia's childhood story
  
 
 

 

Desde entonces, mi vida cambió...
(Since then my life changed...)

Pencil Sketch on Paper