I called
Aleja and asked her for an interview that I could post here on my blog for you all. She is the author of "All I Can Do Is Stand" and founder
of 'Stay Strong and Stand'. Her bravery is inspiring and this is her
story.
Me:
How old were you when the
abuse began?
Aleja:
I was 6 months old. My mother left my siblings and I alone in an
apartment and didn't return. When the
police found us they took us to the New York Foundling in Manhattan. I had pneumonia.
When they found my mother she gave
up all rights to me and my siblings. They
separated us, having different families
adopt us. At 40 years old I still don't
know who they are.Then at 2 I was adopted by a deacon and deaconess and that was when the nightmare began.
Me:
What did they do?
Aleja: They
would physically abuse me and mentally as well.
They would dress me nice, but only feed me when the felt like it. They would
call me names like retard, idiot, and liar.
Me: So
they basically only cared about what people saw?
Aleja: Yes.
Me: How
did you get through what your adoptive parents were doing?
Aleja: I
realized I was blessed with a voice.
Singing made all the trauma and abuse bearable. When I would sing I would cry, which was a
relief. I also became active in
church. I joined the choir, attended
bible study, excreta. I even started
writing.
I also learned to sleep with one
eye open. As I got older I wasn't as
scared. I would stay with friends. Though they weren't very good friends. My boyfriends were crack heads, drug addicts,
and abusers as well.I also would drink. A lot. I eventually got up to drinking about a half-gallon of liquor a day. I did try to drink a lot of water to compensate because I was still trying to be conscious about my health.
Me: What
caused you to stop drinking?
Aleja: I
went to the doctor and he gave me clean bill of health even after all of my
drinking. It made me realize that God
had been taking care of me. There was no
other excuse. It made me realize that
there was something important I had to do in my life.
Me: You
mentioned you started to write. At what
age did you first write? What was it?
Aleja: I
started writing in High School. It took
me 4 years to write my book and when I graduated I got my writings in a
book. It was amazing to have that. Then one day I went to go take a bath and
when I got done my book had disappeared.
I didn't write again until I was 25.
Me: What
did you write then?
Aleja: I
wrote "Being Alive". It was my
first poem I had written after my book had been stolen. In 2006 I wrote "Only The Strong Can
Survive" it was published by America Published. They also published other book of my poetry,
"Beautiful Poetic Strategy and Recovery" in 2008.
They didn't get it out very well
so I decided to become a self-published author.
Since then I have published 8 more books on my own.
Me:
Can you tell me a little bit
about your family?
Aleja:
My daughter is going to college
in Wisconsin. I unfortunately went
through a hard time and my grandmother had to take care of her when she was
younger but I still tried to be there for her.
One day she broke her foot while
at school. I gave everything I had
including my rent money to be there for her.
She is my daughter, I was just being a good mother. My grandmother thought I was an idiot for
doing that.The rest of my family was around when they found out I published my first book, but when they realized that I didn't make a lot of money off of it they all disappeared again.
Me: Is
there anything you wish you could say to those reading this or those going
through something similar?
Aleja: Yes. Find out what your purpose is. Find out why the enemy wants to destroy
you. When it comes down to it be the
winner. Don't let the destroyer, destroy
you.
Me: Thank
you so much for doing this interview.
Aleja: Thank
you for calling me.
