By Emily R.

KIPP Adelante, 8th Grader.

Past to Present

28 x 20 Pen/watercolor on poster paper

For my MOKA piece, I wanted to depict my experience growing up in different homeless shelters in San Diego. My mom came to San Diego from Tijuana for a new start. She had a really rough time and we spent most of our childhood bouncing between many shelters. She finally saved enough money for an apartment, but something happened and we had to go back to a shelter. Every time we thought it would get better, another obstacle happened. But no matter what happened, my mom was so strong for us. I wanted to show some of the things that happened to me and the feelings of moving from place to place. My reality was never stable or promised. We were always scared for my mom because she is undocumented. Every day brought more change. But something always stayed, and that was my mom's love and strength for us. I thought it would be impossible to get better but with my mom's love, and with support at KIPP Adelante, it brought color and hope to my life and made all the things I thought were impossible possible and things didn't feel so dark and hopeless anymore. The reality I know now is because of what my mom and KIPP made possible for me.