Maritza
By: Mary Colombie
Name: Maritza
Age: 11
From: Medellin
Family
Neighborhood
Events
One event that had influenced Maritza was when she went out with her friend Fabio to the territory of La Libertad, a gang that was once warred against The Mexican's gang. They were planning to just go to a party, but they got much more than that. They got there and while her friend was in the bathroom, a man came up to her and said, "I'm going to kill you because your going to a party with a police officer." This man was stoned. She tried to explain to him that he's not a cop, but he then said, "I want you to kill me so you know how it feels to kill." Martiza and Fabio were then kicked out of the party by the stoned man and his gang, saying that they were going to take them to separate locations and kill them. (They were saved though.)
Another event that had influenced Maritza was when she was first introduced to drugs at age of 11, when she ran away from her home and was planning to live on the streets. At first, she didn't do a lot of drugs, but at the age of 12, she was nearly high all the time. But one time, when she was high she heard a gun battle break out. She grabbed a gun and ran out to the street. She was trying to shoot, but then she realized she didn't have any bullets. Then, she felt a sharp pain in her leg. When she later came home to tell her mother she was shot, her mother refused to take her to the hospital and told her to go fix her leg herself.