Presbyterian Mission Agency Tamaulipas Archives

Tamaulipas

Unbroken: in spite of what drug wars did to her Mexican village

Posted January 23rd, 2017

KINGSVILLE, Texas. As a young teenager, Monika Ruiz made a life-altering decision. The village she’d grown up in—San Fernando, in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico—was being destroyed by the elements of drug wars— killings, violence, and corruption. “I couldn’t even go into my backyard,” says Ruiz, who is a sophomore at Presbyterian-affiliated Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas. “I came home from school every day wondering if I’d make it, or get kidnapped.”