Vol. 5

This post is part of our Team Tuesday series, highlighting the incredible people who make the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation what it is. This is the last of this series written by Jacob Killburg.

By Jacob Killburg

Keyla

Keyla was born in León, Nicaragua, and her childhood held little stability. Her stepfather forbade her from going to school, and she spent her earliest years enduring abandonment and sexual abuse. Yet, she carried within her a quiet determination—a vision of one day creating the safe, loving home she never had. At six years old, her mother brought her to Costa Rica, a move that shaped the rest of her life.

In La Carpio, she became a mother—raising five children on her own and finding strength in caring for them. Daily life stretched every colón. At times her kids paused their education when she couldn’t cover bus fares, a sacrifice that pains her deeply because she knows education is their path forward. Violence and gang recruitment in the neighborhood weigh on her mind, but she begins her days with a simple prayer for strength, hope, and her family’s safety.

About a year ago, her connection with the CRHF became a turning point. At the time, she was selling her body to survive but longed to leave that behind. Arriving at the foundation for food support, she met Gail, who offered her a different path: steady work assisting with the food program and caring for the shared spaces. Since then, Keyla has pridefully leaned into this work, and she now calls the foundation team the family she never had.

In the past year Keyla has expanded her abilities in remarkable ways.

She is attending school for the first time in her life, recently graduating from a level one literacy class and working toward the next. In addition, Keyla completed a stylist training program that combined classroom lessons with free haircuts for people living on the streets. To make it work, she woke at 3 a.m. every Wednesday to prepare her household, clean at the foundation, and attend classes until mid-afternoon. She graduated proudly and dreams of opening her own salon. Above all, Keyla wants to empower women who have endured abuse to speak their truths and to know that being believed can change everything.

Keyla’s story is one of pure courage. She has transformed her past into a fierce motherhood that drives her to rise every morning, and her determined energy radiates to those around her.