NARRATORS What does homelessness look like? Is it a person on the street holding a sign, or is it a family living in a hotel room, starting to get by? Some people think homelessness is a sensitive topic. Some ignore it, and others don't understand it—and they're right. It is a sensitive topic. For my brother and me, homelessness was everywhere: going from house to house, ending up in a hotel room with a brave single mom, struggling to live together—all three of us.
How do people get by in those conditions? In this episode of Voices del Valle, we are going to tell you about the four years my brother and I lived homeless in Central. It all started when our dad was working in the fields and started using drugs to stay awake. This led to his addiction and an economic spiral. In 2018, our dad left for rehab in Arizona, and we had to move from the home we had been living in because we didn't have money. For the next four years, we found ourselves frequently moving from studios to hotels. Our single mom would look for support, and now, we live in an apartment. Our story isn't just about struggle. It's about hope, compassion, and the power of community.
When we return, we will share family memories—both the hard and the hopeful—and hopefully provide you with a glimpse of our life journeys.
MIA To tell this story, Marley and I reflected on the early memories of when we first became homeless and the following years. What do you remember from moving out of the house that we were living in, which was close to Guien’s, our grandparents, and our friend Garden? What do you remember from moving from there to a hotel?
MARLEY Moving from the house to the hotel—I don't remember much because I was younger, but I do remember we had this van, like a little minivan. We stuffed everything into it. Some parts we left at Grandma’s, who lives in the same studio area. And then, everything else was just stuffed in the van and the hotel. It was cramped most of the time. Like you said earlier, we would get rides to school because the minivan was too crammed. I remember one time, at a hotel, someone broke into it and stole some of our stuff—like my Kung Fu gear and my belt. That was sad.
MARLEY When we were homeless and even in the hotel, we wouldn't always get the free hotel breakfast. Only one of them had breakfast. I remember little powdered donuts and coffee. I also remember this one hotel we lived in for a bit—it was right across the street from a Double Taco. Back when prices were cheap, they had a chicken quesadilla for like two bucks or something. After school, we’d get one, and oh my gosh—I still dream about how it tasted. That was like the one delicacy we had. It was so good.
Going back to what you said earlier—about us being in Kung Fu while we were homeless—do you think that helped you clear your mind from the situation we were in?
MIA Yeah, because Kung Fu actually helped me a lot mentally. The maestros there helped us. We didn’t pay to be in Kung Fu—they helped us because they knew it was hard for us. It really distracted me.
MARLEY I understand. Because the moment we became homeless was the same moment our father left us. So we used comfort—like Kung Fu—as a coping mechanism. It was my favorite, too.
MIA They helped us a lot when we were moving, too. When we were going from house to house, they came early in the morning to help us get all the stuff because my dad had left, and we didn’t have a man around. So, six guys—my Kung Fu teachers and friends—helped us move tables, furniture, all of it. They really helped us a lot and distracted us, too.
What do you remember about seeing how Mom was when we were moving houses?
MARLEY It was really hard on her because, like you said, Dad had left. There was no man around to help her move everything. But she got a lot of support from other people—especially from our Kung Fu teachers. Like Master Lucy, she was one of the main teachers there. She helped our mom out a lot because she understood what she was going through. And when we were moving, a lot of the guys from Kung Fu—like the Young Lords, who were around 17—helped us move everything. One time, we moved houses within a single night because we had hope we’d get a place soon.
NARRATOR When Marley and I sat down with our mom, we found out she did a very good job protecting us from the struggles she was going through in order to hold us together as a strong family.
MIA Hi, I'm Mia.
MOM And I'm Gabriella.
MIA
Today, we're going to talk about when we were homeless—when we were young—and it's going to be from Mom's perspective.
MIA I remember that the roof burned down.
MOM Yes, we lived in a house near Harding, and it was the roof and the bathroom that burned down. Everything started with that house. We lived there for about a year. Some cables caused the fire, and we had to leave. We were struggling to find a home, but a friend told us about a place. So, we went to live there. It was a shared household. There was a man who rented a room and smoked marijuana, and we didn’t like living there. Then Mia got sick, and we had to move to live with family.
We left that house because the smell of the marijuana made us uncomfortable.
MOM Then we moved into a house belonging to one of my friends, but it was too expensive. I couldn’t pay the rent by myself. I was alone with my kids, and Mia’s dad couldn’t give me money. The kids were in Kung Fu, and the teachers were really good people—they would help us. I even went to the government for help, but they told me they couldn’t help me.
We ended up at a hotel. I went back to the government and asked for help again. They said, “Are you homeless?” and I said yes. That’s when they started helping us—they gave us money for the hotel. I tried to make sure my kids didn’t notice that we were without a home. I would take them to the pool, take them to eat. Marley remembers eating quesadillas with chicken. Marley was happy because we finally had cable and could watch SpongeBob—all the cartoons we didn’t have at home.
We stayed at two different types of hotels. Sometimes, if you arrived early enough, they would give free breakfast. One time, I left them with my friend Christina because I had a lot of appointments. They missed breakfast because they were out in the pool, but that’s part of the story—I was trying really hard to hide what was really happening.
MOM Everything we had—our beds, our blankets—I kept in a storage unit I rented. I even had a car. Do you remember?
MIA The white one?
MOMNo, it was a gray one.In the back, we had everything—blankets, a stove. Marley’s Kung Fu equipment got stolen at the hotel. I don’t know how they didn’t take anything else.
One of the Kung Fu teachers told me about a program called WomanHaven, for women who’ve experienced domestic violence. I told them, “Nobody has ever hit me,” but they said abuse isn’t just physical. They asked, “Did he yell at you? Did he make you feel bad?” I said yes. That’s when I realized it was abuse.
They told me to look for a house and they would help me. It was hard because, here in the Imperial Valley, they don’t really rent to single moms without jobs. I had no job and no government help. But the program helped—they spoke for me. One day, we were in San Diego for Mia’s appointment and I got a call: “Do you want to rent this house?” It was close to the school the kids were attending. We were able to rent it.
MIA I remember! We were at a doctor’s appointment in San Diego, and you were so happy!
MOM Yes. It was around 2018 when we got that little house. We stayed there for five years.
Then, in 2023, we got a notice that we needed to leave because the property had been sold. Rent had gone up by $200, and we couldn’t find another place. Nobody wanted to help us. After 60 days, we had to go to my aunt’s house. She had a small house in the back, and we all moved in.
The little house had an old AC unit and it was hot. The electricity wasn’t good. I bought an AC, but it didn’t work. I would buy the kids ice pops. Sometimes Starbucks, just to cool down.
MARLEY I remember telling my science teacher the AC wasn’t working, and they had an extra credit project to build a DIY AC with a filter and fan. He offered one to me, and I brought it home. It helped us feel a bit of air in the kitchen.
MOM It was very difficult being in such a small, hot space with my kids. But then an apartment opened up. I applied, and in October we moved in. Now, we’ve been here for almost two years.
This whole journey has taught me to value what we have—a house, AC, food in the fridge—things a lot of people take for granted.
MIA
Thank you, Mommy, for your time.
BREAK
MIA Included in our memories was a weekend that Marley and I spent with our dad, after he returned from working in Washington. Things did not go as planned.
MIA I remember we were going to go to a hotel, because usually when my dad comes, we stay at a hotel with him and then go back with our mom. Marley came up to me and he found… well, the drugs.
MARLEY The way I found them—his truck was full of stuff, because like we mentioned, he was moving from Washington back to Arizona. His truck was packed, so the fancy seats weren't even available. We were cleaning it up, and I found this little case. I assumed they were headphones, so I opened it to see what kind. I was curious. Then I realized what it was. I gave them to Mia because I didn’t want them in my possession.
MIA When Marley first gave it to me, I actually thought it was salt or something weird. I told him, "This is salt?" And he said, "No—hide it." And I was like, "Okay." I hid it. Later at the hotel, my dad started tweaking out—looking for stuff. He said, “I’m looking for this little thing. Did you guys touch anything?” He didn’t say what it was. He gave some dumb excuse, like “I lost my keys.”
I had it in my purse. He didn’t say anything until we got to the hotel. Then he sat us down and told us he had relapsed. I didn’t know how to react. Marley and I had to act brave for him because it was such a serious thing. We went from being kids hanging out with our dad to having to face an adult problem immediately.
MARLEY Yeah, we had to be calm because it was serious. I remember him telling us everything. Then you told him you were going to keep the drugs until he proved he could go without them.
MIA He had withdrawals. And I know it sounds bad, but one of those withdrawals—I got traumatized. We were sharing a bed at the hotel, since we were the guys and my sister had the other bed.
MARLEY
One night, I woke up and there was... well, poop on the bed. I’m sorry for laughing, but it was a bad situation turned ridiculous.
MARLEY Then we went to the movies. He fell asleep, like always. After that, we went to a car wash because he was getting ready to leave. His orange truck was dirty, and we were just waiting. He looked at me and said, “You have to give them back to me before I leave.” You had told him you would, but in that moment, you said no. I told him, “Why should your child give you back drugs?” I said no. He started shouting, saying it was going to be my fault if he relapsed and got worse. He said horrible things to me. He said, “Why did I even pick you up? Why did I bring you out?”
MARLEY He always made you feel like it was your fault. I was in the middle, like always.
MIA He was yelling all the way back to the apartment. I told him I wasn’t giving it back until my mom came. I started bawling. I didn’t know what to do. He was driving really fast. I just kept saying, “I’m not giving it back.”
MARLEY I ran away—to my best friend’s house. He’s my neighbor. I go there whenever I need space. I don’t like being around people who are making problems worse. I’m a weird person like that. So I stayed at my friend’s house for like 30 minutes. He’s one of the people I trust and can show my emotions around.
MIA I recently read that one in four kids has a parent with addiction problems. As you heard—that was us.
And one of the consequences of my dad’s addiction was that my mom, my brother, and I became homeless. But we learned to live—all three of us—together.
NARRATOR Our story wasn’t just about struggle. It was about hope, compassion, and the power of community.
