Daniella

Daniella's mothers point of view:

Daniela was always a good child; she got fantastic grades and had a bright future ahead of her. She was also the backbone of this family, when her father would go into one of his drunken rages, it was her that would make sure her brothers and sisters were tucked into bed, then she would go and take the brunt of his anger, so that I was safe from any harm, still at times there was nothing she could do.

She would often talk about all the wonderful things in life she planned to do, like travel and write books, I as her mother was always supportive and proud of her, working extra shifts at the sewing factory to try and save up a bit of money so she could go to university.

When her father died things got a lot harder, we were now a single income family and there were mouths to feed and to my deepest regret I had to start digging into Daniela’s savings.

Then one winter, just as Daniela was finishing her final year of schooling I became extremely ill and had to stop working. Daniela, feeling that there was no way the family could go on without her quit school and went straight to work in that awful factory, I felt so bad.

Every extra shift she worked to pay for doctors, every night I’d hear her sob softly as she fell asleep and every morning as she left, I’d see her die a little inside.

I wish she’d been able to live the life she’d wanted.