My name is Miriam Camilo, I have just turned 34 years old on March 12. I am from the State of Michoacán and when we were very young we moved to Mexico City. I have been living in the United States for five years.
I am in the United States because I fell in love. My current husband already lived here, and when we got married we both moved. Fifteen days after moving I found out I was pregnant. My first child was born prematurely at 28 weeks and stayed in the hospital for the last two months. I still wanted to go back to Mexico; However, when we meditated on it as a family, we realized that we were not going to offer our son in Mexico what he would have here. In this country, we would have access to more resources and opportunities, and that is why I am still here.
I gave up many things in Mexico, to face a very different culture. I left my job, my parents and my brothers. Although when I moved I had no one close by, along the way I have found a family of choice. I have met very good people who have sheltered me in difficult times. I felt out of place, and little by little I have been breaking my fears. I faced a new language and culture, and with ROSAesROJO I have learned to value the good in life and focus on the positive. After many falls and lifts I have been able to advance. Although I miss my parents and siblings very much, I know that it is close to my children and husband where I want to be.
One fine day, I heard about ROSAesROJO at Catholic Charities - Cardinal Farell Community Center. In this center, while your children take classes according to their grade level, they teach us English to the mothers. I remember that the deputy director notified us that there was a scholarship for the moms and that we could have the opportunity to be part of El Camino Rojo. That was where I could really learn two things that changed my life. The first is that I learned to forgive. He didn't know how much he was carrying and how much resentment he had. After venting, expressing my feelings, and forgiving from the heart, I was able to turn the page. The second thing that struck me was that they opened my eyes to my eating habits. I was able to realize all the harmful foods that I had in my home. I was able to improve my diet thanks to the action plan I made with the ROSAesROJO guide since they gave us all the tools and the desire to use them. The will, the effort, and the sacrifice are leaving results that today I can begin to see in myself and in my family.
The El Camino Rojo workshops, and the episodes I listened to on the SuperVive Podcast, came to me at the exact moment. My husband had just gotten sick. He suffers from high blood pressure, and when the doctor changed his diet our life took a 180-degree turn; a turn for the better. If I alone had wanted to change my habits, or he only had to do it, we would not have been able to. However, because we did it together, the support we gave each other helped us move forward. Everything that we began to see in El Camino Rojo and in SuperVive we immediately put into practice at home.
Another example is that to exercise before I walked alone, now I find myself walking every morning accompanied by my husband and my two children. We are on the right track because thanks to ROSAesROJO, I have been able to involve my whole family in this new and healthier lifestyle!
Little by little I have begun to see changes in my husband's health, in our energy and optimism, and also our money is enough for more. I learned to cook my favorite dishes with much more nutritious, economical, and healthy ingredients.
Eating healthy does not mean that we will eat something we do not like! I am aware that when you grow up eating in an unhealthy way, it is more difficult to make a change, so my challenge as a mother is to teach my children to eat in a balanced way from now on, so that when they grow up it will be very easy for them to continue with their Healthy habits.
The tools they teach us at ROSAesROJO are very valuable, and I especially realize this when I reflect on my sister and her cancer diagnosis. It was a very difficult time for the family, where anger, discontent, and despair entered our house. Since then I always think that if my family had had access to all the information and resources that ROSAesROJO provides, it would have been a different story.
Participating in these programs is a way of constantly telling myself that I love myself. Improving my diet and thinking more positively has been key to restarting my life, and it is the best decision I have ever made. ROSAesROJO gives me tools that not only serve me; With these tools, I can save lives.
