a far cry from the life that we were accustomed to. Many

of her countries were and still are devastated by poverty

and corruption in government. There are two people with

unique yet similar life stories that help to illustrate the

sadness and pain felt by the poor in Latin America.

Carolina Maria De Jesus was born in 1913 in Sacramento, a small town in the inner part of Brazil. She is the author of Child of the Dark. This is her first hand account of life in a Brazilian favelas, or slum. She moved to the favelas with her three children after three different men had abandoned her as well as her employers. It was in this favelas where she would spend the next agonizing eleven years of her life.

Each day she would wake up between five o'clock and seven o'clock in the morning to wait in line for water for her children. She would come home and cook them breakfast if she had any food. The rest of her day was spent searching the town for scraps of paper, metal and, food. She would trade the scrap metal and paper for next to nothing, and then spend all of it that day on food and other necessities. She would bring the food home to her children but it was never eno

The difference between these two people was not the conditions that hurt them, but the extent of the conditions that hurt them. Carolina's struggle to provide for her family was much greater than that of Victors. He had a tough job but it was respectable. She however was looked down upon for what she did. Another example is the government. The government had a severe impact on Carolina's life, but it did not directly harm her as it did to Victor.

The Tzalala's people were forced to form a "civil patrol" to watch out for guerillas. They did not want to do this but were threatened with their lives. One day a group of men from the Guatemalan army were mistaken for guerillas and were attacked buy the Tzalalan people. Th8is misunderstanding resulted in the death of some Tzalalan people on the battlefield, and the execution of many others who were said to be guerillas. Victor Montejo was one of the men accused of being a guerilla, but was brought back to the base for questioning. He was later released under strict conditions to report back to the military about his knowledge of guerilla activities,

What she did every day is a perfect example of why their was no economic growth for the people in the favelas. She would make just enough to barely survive that day; thus there was no money to save. This is why she despised the favelas. It was her prison and it tortured her every day.

Carolina Maria De Jesus was not a typical person from the favelas. She did not allow her economic conditions as an excuse to steal, fight, or even drink. She kept her morals in tact. Her children we

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1077
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)