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 My mother, Beatrice Torres, was my closest guide, teaching me not through books and sessions but through real life experience of the importance of family, integrity, hard work and most of all serving others with love. I spent my childhood years, helping my mother to collect herbs to treat spiritual ailments, to make oils out of cohune, to attend to the regular patients in the village who sought her as a spiritual guide, as a women’s wellness support and as a masseuse in her own right, taught by my great grandmother Delfina, how to do Mayan Uterine massage to help many women with fertility and infertility issues. There were so many things that were part of my daily life, that I did not see as teachings, but as a way of life, which now I reflect on and understand that my mother, my greatest role model, was helping to guide me to use my gifts to help others.

With blood, sweat and sacrifice, she sent me to high school, where in June of 1994, I successfully completed my high school education. Financial resources were low, so, soon thereafter I started to work as a waitress at San Ignacio Hotel to help at home to provide for my other seven younger siblings and for them to have a good education. In 1996, I gave birth to my first child. My pregnancy and the birth of my son, strengthened my relationship with my mother as I learned more about women’s wellness, during pregnancy and post-partum care. She taught me more about women’s wellness, uterine massage to help position the foetus and how to prevent breech babies. She showed me traditional healing methods taught to her by her ancestors such as herbal baths, steam baths, prayers and medicinal herbs used to treat women before and after childbirth. At and or around this time, she began attending seminars and leading workshops based on Traditional Maya Healing Practices in Belize and abroad. One such place she worked at, sharing her knowledge of medicinal herbs, was as the Ix Chel Tropical Research Centre in the Cayo District. She introduced me to Dr. Rosita Arvigo, Director of the Ix Chel Tropical Research Centre. I was then hired by Dr. Arvigo to work at Ix Chel Tropical Research Foundation. For two consecutive years, I worked there, in charge of the factory output, where I increased my knowledge of medicinal plants used in tinctures, baths and tonics. I was in charge of managing the factory with

Herbal remedies: mixing: preparing the tinctures, filling bottles with herbal medicine, labelling, sealing the herbal products, filing orders and shipping orders abroad and to the local gift shop, doing inventory of products etc.

After my second child was born, I stopped working at Ix Chel, and stayed at home to take care of my two young boys. Whilst my two first born went to school, I was actively involved in the school’s PTA, I joined my kids’ scout group as Assistant Scout Leader and was always their most ardent cheerleader. A few years later, I had three more children, in all five boys, who are my life’s most wonderful gifts and blessings. My home was my sanctuary, but I soon started to feel I was not doing enough for my community. I have always been a people’s person, so others who knew me, invited me to seminars based on community services which helped me to use my innate gift to serve others. Being a stay at home mom did not stop me from continuing to learn and to be a productive member of society. I was actively involved in youth development where I attended seminars and was recognized with accolades from the Youth Department-Youth Empowerment Project and Ministry of Social Services and most recently as a part of the board of Mary Open Doors Shelter for battered women in San Ignacio. This year, I have worked in collecting data through house to house interviews for the 2022-2023 Census. These opportunities have opened so many doors for me and have led me to meet so many wonderful people in my community and some from abroad who live in our beautiful town. However, my calling to provide help and assistance to people of my community continues to rise.