Nena America, Why Not Me?

Nena is born into poverty as a "bastard" child to a widowed mother in 1950s Mexico. Living as an outcast in a system that only helps those with money, Nena and her siblings do everything they can to find food and make ends meet. She struggles to stay in school as long as she can before she is forced to find work as a hotel maid. At the hotel, she works twelve-hour shifts seven days a week to support her family. Then she marries her possessive boyfriend and becomes pregnant, only to lose the baby just after birth.

And all of this happens before her eighteenth birthday.

Enduring struggle after struggle and abuse after abuse, Nena's life changes directions when she decides to venture to the United States, where a new set of struggles-and triumphs-are just beginning. Through it all, she maintains her faith in God and his plan for her life.

Filled with both pain and joy, "Nena: America, Why Not Me?" is the inspiring story of one woman's remarkable journey to find a better life for herself and her children.

Also available in Spanish.