While we often hear of the violence and poverty that ravages much of the global south, including Latin America, it can be difficult to imagine what that might be like. Magdalena doesn't have to imagine — she lived through it. 

One fateful day in 2011, Magdalena — then 21 years old and living in El Salvador — received a haunting phone call. The callers demanded $3,000, threatening to kill her and her 5-year-old daughter if she did not comply. 

Fearing for her daughter and herself, Magdalena was forced to relocate her child to a distant town to stay with their extended family while she fled to the United States to join her husband. 

After her arrival, Magdalena was desperate to reunite with her young daughter. She and her husband worked day and night for months on end — eating only what was necessary to survive — so they could send money to El Salvador for their daughter and still save money to bring her to them. When they were able to reunite a year and a half later, Magdalena could finally breathe. 

But her struggle was not over. Being in this country without knowing a word of English was tough, and Magdalena felt she was being taken advantage of as a house cleaner. “I needed English to defend myself against this abuse," she says. 

She began an ESL program at César Chávez Ravenswood Middle School in partnership with Cañada College. As she transitioned from ESL courses to a career path, Magdalena decided on Early Childhood Education (ECE). The knowledge she gained from her education helped her understand how her violent experiences in El Salvador had and still affected her and taught her how to best support her daughter — who had experienced some of that violence firsthand — and her new son. 

Soon after she started taking ECE classes, Magdalena landed a job as a teaching assistant. She was passionate about her work, but six months after starting she was abruptly laid off due to COVID-19. Magdalena was devastated and considered taking a break from college, but her husband and her Upward Scholars family ultimately encouraged her to continue taking courses at Cañada and keep moving forward.

Magdalena's persistence and resilience have not gone unnoticed. Her daughter, now 14 years old, recognizes her mother's struggles and sees how she works past them and continues moving toward her goals. Magdalena proudly sees her daughter emulate these characteristics in her own academic journey. "I'm so proud of her because she struggled a lot growing up," Magdalena says. "But I'm so relieved that we can have a different life here. We still struggle, of course, but it is nothing compared to the violence and poverty in El Salvador. And with Upward Scholars' help, I know we'll be okay."