I Needed to Know
Lorena Martínez (2000) Batey Yacó , Pedro Brand, Santo Domingo. She completed two years of high school. She is not married and does not have children. She does not have a national or electoral identity card.
I was born on August 9, 2000. A batey called Yacó witnessed my first baby steps. But my batey is a place where witchcraft is the priority.
When I was a little girl many things used to happen in my neighborhood so my mother wouldn’t let me go outside for fear that something might happen to me. I felt that my life was limited.
But it was sad because I always saw that all my friends had a father, except me. And I, a little girl, needed to see my father. When I asked my mother about my father she would always say one thing and then another… but one day my heart began to beat faster and I went out to figure out what happened to my father. I sneaked out of the house without my mother knowing to figure out what happened. When I went out, I asked my neighbors what they knew about my father… and no one could tell me anything about my father.
I sneaked back into my mother’s house and I just looked around… and suddenly a few of my tears came down. And when my mother saw that , she realized that it was time for me to know. When I learned that my father had died I was stunned, pensive, and honestly, I suffered a lot, but I was able to overcome it.
When my mother adopted David… I don’t know why, but I became close with that child and I was able to clear my mind and think less about my father.
My stepfather, at the beginning, was a good man and my sadness was becoming joy. But once I got to know him, I saw that he was a very violent man that would easily become angry. I hope that someday I can get to his heart so that he can stop being so mean to me.