Zanthia

21-year-old Zanthia’s life started in San Marcos, a city in the west of Guatemala. Her childhood was plagued with trauma and difficulty, much of which began after her mother died when she was just 10 years old. Zanthia’s father was a businessman, who spent a lot of time away from home, so before long, he had remarried. Zanthia’s stepmother didn’t care for her new stepdaughter and often left her out, excluding her from family life.

This exclusion created the perfect opportunity for abuse and by the time she was just 11, she had no one to turn to. Zanthia had lost all hope and made the decision to run away from home to the streets with just a small sack of food and a change of clothes.

Life on the street

She set up a base for herself in one of the city’s central parks and spent her time looking for work so she could earn enough money to just survive. One day, she found herself in a clothes shop and got talking to the owner. Zanthia mentioned she was looking for work and the owner offered her 400 Quetzales (£35) a month to look after their two young daughters. Zanthia accepted joyfully, but before long, the shop owner was refusing to pay her for her work. Zanthia had had enough and decided to move the 250km to Guatemala City.

When she arrived, Zanthia enlisted the help of a friend to help her find work. It wasn’t long before she found work as a cleaner at a restaurant, but once again, Zanthia was subjected to abuse and exploitation. Noone had explained the expectations to her so she was often beaten for not doing a good enough job. On top of this, she only received 25 Quetzals (£2.30) for the five months she worked there. One day, after another round of beatings and aggression, Zanthia had had enough and moved back onto the streets. She decided to base herself at one of Guatemala City’s largest markets, but she was constantly afraid. All around her, there were lots of drunk people and she was terrified of being attacked.

While living in the market, she got to know a woman who offered her work as a waitress in her café. After a month however, the woman asked her to start sitting with the men who came in, many of whom were often drunk, to keep them company. Zanthia refused and once again found herself on the streets with no reliable form of income. As part of her survival mechanism, Zanthia soon depended on glue and marijuana to get her through the tough days and nights on the street. The drugs made her forget her anxieties.

“When I lived on the streets, I experienced so many horrible things. Everyone ignored me and no one ever respected me as a person.” Zanthia

A future off the streets?

It was during this time that she met the father of her children. He was the first person to support her and help her change her life. Her partner treated her well and wanted to know why she was on the streets. He gave Zanthia food and shelter and even took her home to meet his mother, who showed her the love and care that she’d craved. Together, they started a family and Zanthia felt accepted for the first time in a long time.

Zanthia had her first daughter, Yessica, when she was just 15. Not long after she gave birth, her partner started to be violent towards her – she had no idea what to do with her daughter. How could she protect her when she’d had no one to show her how? Zanthia got so depressed by the situation, she got to the point where she tried to take her own life.

“Through God’s mercy, nothing happened to me and I didn’t die,” shares Zanthia.

The violence pushed her back onto the streets with her daughter where, once again, she turned to alcohol for support. But seeing her daughter living that life and almost having her taken away from her forced her back to her partner. Before long, she gave birth to her second child, Victor, and little by little, her partner started to change how he was treating her. Despite this, she moved in with her mother-in-law who protected her, supported her with the children and encouraged her to look to the future – not long after, her partner ended up in prison.

Now, she is still living with her mother-in-law and nine other family members. Generally, everyone gets on well, which Zanthia enjoys because she still has little contact with her own family. Only her father has seen her since she left, when he was called to the hospital to confirm who she was after the birth of her daughter, as she was still a child herself – even then, he didn’t speak a word to her.

Birth certificates for all

Zanthia now has three children, Yessica, 6, Victor, 5, and Erick, 2 years old. She is also expecting her fourth child any day now. Living in the house with that many people is difficult sometimes for Zanthia because she has to balance bringing up her children with earning enough money to give them the things that they need. Her children are the most important people in her life, but she often only gets to see them in the evenings due to work. She knows that this sacrifice is necessary though so that they never have to live on the streets like she has. And whenever she feels sad about not being with them, she reminds herself that she’s doing it so she can give them everything they want and need.

Recently, the children’s dad refused to recognise them as his own. This was when Zanthia went to RENAP to find out how she could get them registered without his support. At RENAP, she met Toybox’s partner in Guatemala, CONACMI, and got involved in the registration work carried out by the organisation. Victor and Erick are also registered and Zanthia continues to receive support from CONACMI.

“My eldest daughter wasn’t registered to start with and that was when I met CONACMI. They helped me get her birth certificate so now she’s enrolled in school and can continue on to finish all her studies. School will be a constant in her life now she has her birth certificate.” Zanthia

A business to call her own

Through CONACMI, Zanthia has also been able to receive a grant to set up her own business. Before, Zanthia had a bit of support from her mother-in-law to look after the children but was only making a small amount of money. Now, she makes enough money to be able to buy nappies and food for her children, focussing all her earnings on making sure she can meet their basic needs.

When she got the grant, she set up a stand where she now sells clothes, cleaning materials and soaps. As well as having enough money for the day to day needs, she is now able to save some of the money she makes, which she hopes one day will help her children finish their studies, go to university and lead better lives than hers so far. “My greatest wish is that my children finish their studies – I hope they don’t end up like me, only finishing primary school, because my dad never encouraged me to stay in education.”

“Now I’ve got my own business, I feel good. I’ve started selling soap as well as clothes during the pandemic. It’s a bit tricky at the moment because soap is so expensive, and my pregnancy is making me tired – I can’t always see the kids because I’m walking so much just to sell. However, although the soap is expensive, I generally sell it for a bit more than I pay, so I do manage to make a small profit. That said, it is such a small profit, I am thinking of stopping selling soap and focussing on products that will make me more money.”

“The biggest challenge about having my own business is that there are some days which are totally dead and I don’t sell a thing. On these days, I tend to pack up early and come home so I can do my chores and see the children. When I don’t sell though, I don’t have money – on these days, I borrow money from my mother-in-law or sister-in-law to buy what I need. Then, when I sell again, I pay them back the debt.”

Like every business owner, Zanthia faces the ups and the downs but the future is bright for her and her children.

“I feel proud of myself and of my children. I’ve set up my business on my own and my children have helped me get there – even though looking after them on my own is very hard.” Zanthia