General

I grew up in a home made up of my mother and my younger sister. My sister is a person with a disability. She is an adult with the mind of a child. I learned the vocation of helping, since my sister was always under my care. My mom is a psychologist who specializes in helping communities in need. Because of this, from a very young age, my mother taught me to help others.

At the age of 13, I registered in a program that led the Red Cross for children, where I learned first aid and with this, I went to low-income schools to teach first aid.

When I was 16 years old, I accompanied my mother to the poorest communities in the city where my mother helped women who were heads of households and single mothers. These women fled from being mistreated and abused by their partners. I voluntarily taught them mathematics since it was difficult for them to learn this and they had the dream of studying in high school. Today I am happy because many of them are now professionals.

When I went to those poorest communities, I was sad because, not only did I see the suffering of people, but also, I saw a lot of homeless dogs, more than normal. I always wanted to help the homeless dogs since in my country you see malnourished and sick dogs on the streets on every corner of every neighborhood. But my mother would not let me pick up any dogs until I was of legal age and got a job. First, I got two laboratory mice that they used in the universities to experiment on. I was very sad when I found out that after experimenting on these mice in the universities, they were killed, so I adopted them to give them a second chance at life.

When I got a job, I had my first dog. Later, I collected homeless dogs. I bathed and fed them until they gained a healthy weight. And when they were ready, I gave them up for adoption, always with the security of looking for the right home. I always did this with my own money, and I did not charge money when they were adopted. My reward was that they gave the dogs a safe and happy life. I had around 15 dogs and 2 mice in my life. A total of 17 animals, of which 4 I did not give up for adoption. 20 years have passed since I started my work. They still send me photos of the dogs that I gave up for adoption. Others have passed away after so many years.

When I came to Canada, I was very sad because I could not bring the only dog that stayed with me: my dear Andy, since some people told me that starting in a new country was complicated if I came with my pet. So I thought I would bring him when I had a permanent home. Unfortunately, my dog died a few months before being able to bring him, he was already an old dog.

My dream is to save money to buy a country house in my country, and to take many street dogs there and help them live a quiet life without the suffering of abandonment. I can't make this dream come true in Canada, since the maintenance of a pet is very expensive here and I wouldn't have enough money to fulfill my dream.