“When I was 10, I started working in the fields with my dad harvesting coffee. I would do that with him every summer and when I finished the coffee harvest, I went back to school. When I was 14, I went to another part of my state to harvest chayotes (a type of squash that is very common in Mexico) during the summer break. A bunch of us stayed in the same house and I slept in the same bed as my dad. Most people there were families. Some wives came and they were the ones that made the food on top of working as well.
The vines of the chayote plant grew up on a trellis and we harvested from underneath. One person would cut the leaves to make sure everything stayed clean. The others would be harvesting, making sure they chose the ones that were just right (not too little and unripe nor too mature). We harvested 350-400 boxes per day. I worked there for two seasons and during the second summer, my dad only worked there for a short time and then went back home while I continued to work.
At the end of that summer, there was a guy working there that was about 21 years old and he said, “Why don’t you come to Mexico City with me?” I told him that I didn’t know the city at all and asked him what kind of work there was. He said I could work in construction. We went there and I started working a lot of hours from the age of 15 or 16. While I was there, I got to know a friend and she asked me, “Where do you work and how much do you make?” I told her I make 100 pesos per week. She said, “Why don’t you come work for this business called Yakult?” The job was to go door to door and sell containers of yogurt to different businesses and houses. I told her I never did anything like that but she said I could learn no problem and that I would have the chance to earn more. They welcomed me warmly and said we know you’ll have a lot of success. The work itself was much less difficult than working outside in the sun.
On the first day, I regretted changing jobs because I barely sold anything, maybe 10 little containers. I said, “Geez, I can’t do this.” Regardless, I decided to give it a go the next day and little by little, I started selling a few more containers. However, my first check was only 70 pesos for a two week period (at that time, it was the equivalent of less than $10). I thought there is no way I can do this, that is so little. My friend and the bosses told me not to get discouraged, that I would gain more and more customers and to keep going with it. After a month, I started selling a lot more and my sales kept going up. I built up my list of clients and began to make triple what I was making in construction. I worked there for 12 years and liked making a better living than before.
