Marcial a father of his word..

After getting off the bus and doing yet another sewing lesson given by a very patient lady. I went to visit Marcial. Marcial, a bootmaker a father of 6 shared with me more about his life as a child and it really made me realize more why Paso a Paso focuses on the small children. Marcial grew up very poor and never had the opportunity to attend school. When he was at the age to attend school he had to go and work in the corn fields. He spent many days weeping wishing he could go to school. He says he never wished that he had the other children’s parents but that he just had different parents, where he could go and learn to read and write. By the time he was 9 and his father would come home drunk and beat his mother and siblings with father wood, he said, he promised when he was a father his children would go to school and they would study as much as he could possible afford and he would treat them with respect. At the age of 15 Marcial has learned to read some letters and numbers and now he can read and write basic Spanish that he taught himself. All of his school age children have been in Paso a Paso’s program but Marcial never takes advantage, he saves his extra money to pay for his own children’s books and to allow his daugther to take an extra course because he wants to see them succeed.  They are a wonderful family to work with and it is rewarding to see the children do so well. We are hoping we find other fathers and families like Marcials to set good examples for others.