Ladydi's Prayers For The Stolen

Prayers for the Stolen is about Ladydi Garcia Martínez. A 13 year old girl who is courageous, fierce, funny and smart. She was born in Mexico in the mountains of Guerrero where being a female is a curse. In Ladydi’s world, women must find ways to protect themselves against drug traffickers and sex traffickers, because all the men have left these women to fend for themselves. Ladydi’s world is full of drug wars as well, where dead bodies are found and be taken away by the common wildlife; and fear takes place where happiness used to be, embedding itself in a permanent spot. Ladydi and her friends go to school which student teachers volunteer their time away from the richer part of the city for a semester. Ladydi’s young world is full of fear.

The drug lords are feared and women are forced to disguise their female children as sons and make them look ugly by smearing charcoal on their faces and blackening and yellowing their teeth, bruising them to make their skin ugly with black and purple marks, to protect them from being stolen by drug lords and sex traffickers. Ladydi’s mother, who is a drunk, even threaten to knock her teeth out. When these women see or feel the ground begin to shake, they know these men are coming and the mothers quickly throw their daughters into manmade holes in their backyard.
Ladydi’s mother hopefully and helplessly waits for her husband to return to help support and protect them, but while she waits, Ladydi, Paula, Maria, and Estefani –Ladydi’s best friends- dream a dream of a life that they are free from this nightmare they are living.

A dream that almost everyone on that mountain die without ever seeing. Ladydi, however, gets a chance to live that dream. Ladydi was offered a job in Acapulco, by a rich family to be their son’s nanny. She jumped at the chance immediately. Ladydi arrived and notice there was a man in his early 20’s working there as a caretaker. Ladydi finds love for the first time. Ladydi thought her future was going to be set, however, Ladydi’s future takes a wrong turn. A murder was tied to Ladydi’s friend, and finds herself in a new nightmare once again. Taken away from her true love, put in jail, Ladydi stays strong and fights her way out with bravery, hope, and a new vest for life which brings hope to her new heartbreaking conditions she must

face.
In my reflection of this story, Ladydi is an inspiration to every girl who is facing a difficult time.

The Prayers for the Stolen is a page turning masterpiece. Ladydi was named after Princess Diana because of the symbol of loves betrayal. Many women can sympathize with Ladydi’s mother. Ladydi’s father cheated on her mother several times and left the family and moved to America to support his second family. Maria, Ladydi’s best and closest friend, is actually Ladydi’s half-sister by her father, which puts her in danger by Ladydi’s mother, who hates Ladydi’s father. Maria looks just like Ladydi’s father. One part of the story really shocked me when Ladydi’s drunken mother pulls a gun out and shoots Maria. Ladydi rushes Maria to the hospital. Another part in the story that is shocking is when Paula, Ladydi’s friend gets stolen by the drug traffickers and sex traffickers and after a year goes by, she returns but is forever changed. She is covered in marks, cigarette marks to make who she is. Something she learned from another kidnapped woman. Paula is mentally damaged and destroyed emotionally. Ladydi wants a better life and so she leaves for a job in another city. This story is heartbreaking and inspiring. If ever we are having a hard time, we should think about Ladydi Garcia Martinez, a fictional character based on true

events.