Analisa grew up in poverty in Mazatenango, Guatemala. Her early childhood was spent with her mother and sisters in a one-room house. She rarely saw her mother because she worked long hours selling flowers at the marketplace and was instead raised by her older half-sisters. When her mother passed away, she went to live with her father, who was concerned that her siblings and their father would not provide good care for Analisa. While her father could be strict, he was also a “playful and loving” dad (Location 916). Analisa remembers that her father encouraged her to do her homework at his sewing store after school and took her to church and on motorcycle rides. When Analisa was still a teenager, her father died after falling down the stairs. Her half-brother Oscar came to live with the family, and quickly became controlling and abusive towards Analisa. At this time another half-brother, Ernesto, reached out to Analisa and extended an invitation to live with him in the United States. After praying for rain as a sign from God, Analisa made up her mind on a rainy Saturday to make the journey to the US.

Analisa recalls feeling great sadness saying goodbye to her friends and to her stepmother, who was very ill.