Tita was always a rebel. Now, with God in charge, she’s a rebel with a cause. She’s dedicated her life to serving the children of Central America’s largest slum.
Tita Evertsz’s life had hit rock bottom. She’d run away from home in Guatemala age 17 – ‘to smoke dope and live as a hippy’, as she put it. Now she was living in the United States as an illegal immigrant.
She was desperate to run away again, from an abusive husband. And she was pregnant with his third child.
‘I went to the Hispanic store and bought a candle,’ she remembers. ‘I went back home, lit the candle and said to God, "God, please help me!" God told me, "Tita, you chose this life."
‘I told God, "If you don't change me, I'm going to die like I am right now." I know that was the day of my salvation.’
The turning point
Tita suddenly found that she had the courage to leave her husband, who had become both violent and controlling.
She ran away for a second time, this time back to Guatemala and her father, who’d long been her spiritual inspiration.