Video link: Create Hope  |  This video was created by Anne – a current G42 intern.  I feel that this video is a good visual to the short story I wrote below. [*denotes name change]

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Sandra* is a women from Brazil.  She always greets me with a smile and big hug.  “Estoy feliz a verte!”  she says as we embrace.  I reply, “I’m happy to see you too!”

Then our conversation bounces back and forth between family, work and our faith.  I find out that Sandra has been here for two years, she loves taking photos, married a guy from Malaga who is currently out of work due to Spain’s economic downfall and that she often prays to Mary and other saints & goddesses for help in these tough times.  She is a strong women and natural leader.

We are quickly becoming friends.  I’ve offered to teach her English and she has invited me into her home.

She desires to switch professions.

Sandra is a prostitute in Guadalhorce.


She loves the journal that we gave her a few weeks back.  While she cooks and cleans and works she thinks of things that she wants to write in it…yet words fail to fall upon the page.  They remain in her head, her heart, her spirit…  “Voy a escribir. Voy a escribir” (I’m going to write), she tells me with a serious, yet playful smile upon her lips.

The gap between words and action becomes clearer to me as nighttime ever so stealthily sets around me.  Empty hope and desire fill her heart.

She was put on this earth for more than this. Create Hope.

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN SANDRA’S LIFE.  SIGN OUR MATTOO GLOBAL BANNER THAT WILL TRAVEL THE WORLD, INSPIRE HOPE & CREATE CHANGE!

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