Biography
Martha Velasco
Talking or writing about oneself is always a hard task, it is even more
difficult for me.
I was born in La Paz, Bolivia. I spend my childhood in La Paz. I lived with my parents three sister besides me and four brothers; I was the youngest of the eight. I grew up in a small town. My father was a very strong man, he was a hard worker, and he had to provide for eight children. My mother was a very humble woman, very catholic. She dedicated her life to her children, providing them with love, support and very strong moral values.
As child I was always very devoted to school. I remember on Mondays on the Flag salute, the students with higher grades, would be called to the stage to hold the Bolivian flag, while a parade of students was going on. Fortunately my name was called several times in order to hold our flag. This was one of the highest honors for the student to stand up in front of the whole school and hold the flag. I did have this privilege several times in my life as child.
I have had a wonderful experience attending school, I was a happy child, I used to attend school with my older sister Cristina, and we were very close in age. I remember walking every day from my house to school about ten or twelve blocks. My mother would give us .25 to buy our snacks, but she was sure that we had our lunch packaged every day.
We walked several streets to get to school, I remember that some times we would stop in a very small store to buy us apple with caramel, and we would walk to school eating our apple. My older sisters were very supportive with us in any way.
My parents had a difficult life trying to provide us with room and food. My father’s life was very amazing. He grew up in Potosi, a beautiful small town, with his aunt Dolores. He lost his parents when he was 8 years old . He grew up speaking Spanish and Quechua, the Inca’s language. He starter working at the age of eight years old, in a small vegetables store. He used to tell us his wonderful histories about his amazing life. He told us that he used to go to work at 5:00 in the morning. His job was to unpack the vegetables, wash them
I used to have a long hair, close to my waist, and I remember my mother used to braded my hair in two long trenzas, and tided it with two big ribbons.