Student Stories: Rafaela Luna Mendoza
I was born in Santa Ines Ahuateuipan Puebla, Mexico. When I was 18 years old, I decided to cross the U. S. border. The year was 1998 when I came to Los Angeles.
I have two children, a boy and a girl. After my kids finished elementary school, I decided to learn English because I needed to understand when people talked about kids who had autism. My daughter is autistic, and she doesn't speak Spanish. I needed to learn English so I could communicate with her. I started to learn in my ESL class, but it was a little difficult for me to continue studying because I had health problems. In 2016, I had my first surgery, and one year later I had my second surgery. This made it hard for me to continue with school, so I wasn't taking classes for a few years.