Vol. 2

This post is part of our #TeamTuesday series, highlighting the incredible people who make the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation what it is.

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By Jacob Killburg

Milagro

Milagro López de Lira grew up in Granada, Nicaragua—a place she remembers as beautiful and full of life, even amid hardship. Her childhood was marked by poverty and early responsibility. With her father absent, she stopped going to school after third grade to help her mother make and sell tortillas so their family could put food on the table. As a teenager, she suffered abuse, becoming pregnant at twelve and losing the baby after physical violence.

Still, she pressed on, later meeting the father of her eight children. Together they moved to Costa Rica seeking stability. But over time, violence returned to her life, and while pregnant with her youngest she made the brave choice to report her partner to Costa Rican authorities, and raise her children alone. She was one of the first women in La Carpio to do so, and she now continues forward safely, her children being the center of her world.

Milagro was once a customer of the foundation’s food program, but one morning, when the team was short-staffed, she volunteered to help clean crates. That gesture opened a door. Over time, she has become part of the Foundation’s daily rhythm. Organizing and distributing food, she brings warmth to every visitor. She says she uses the same bright, affectionate attitude she learned to express while selling tortillas as a child. Whether the person in front of her is wealthy, struggling, angry, or kind, Milagro treats them the same.

At home, her pride in her children is immense. The older ones have moved out, building their own lives; the younger ones are still in school. She teaches them to share what they have and treat others with compassion.

Music is the heartbeat of her life. Her home is always filled with sound as she cooks and spends time with her kids. Most days she plays music through the foundation speaker, encouraging even the most timid to bust out a dance move. “It gives me energy,” she says. “It makes me feel like myself.”

Faith, gratitude, and kindness are the pillars of Milagro’s life. Measuring her worth in how well she’s cared for her children and how she treats others, she (literally) dances through life, bringing everyone around her along for the ride.