Portraits of a New Beginning: Brenda López

«I made the most of my time in prison: I was able to heal, grow and learn. That time helped me more than my time on the outside. I was able to forgive myself and others who had hurt me.»

When Brenda López’s mother died, Brenda was in prison serving her second sentence of two and a half years. Losing her mother represented a change because she had to take on the responsibility of caring for her siblings, and she used her time in prison to study. After her release, she received from the Bridge Prison Ministry Foundation, where she learned to deal with loneliness, anger and resentment. “I lost my family; I lost my mom; I lost

my freedom — but in the process, God helped me to recover myself and my children,” she reflects. She now works in a warehouse, has a driver’s license for the first time in 12 years and has secured a loan from the bank. “For the first time, everything I have is legal, and there is no better feeling than knowing where I came from and seeing where I am now,” Brenda says.

^{* The testimonies in "Portraits of a New Beginning" were collected and edited by Ana María Carrano, María Gabriela Méndez, Olivia Liendo and Tamoa Calzadilla, under the coordination of Olivia Liendo and Ana María Carrano.}

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