Growing up in a mud-and-thatch hut in the mountainous village of Lorencito, Marlin (pronounced mar-LEEN) was the middle child of a subsistence farmer who raised corn and beans on a small piece of land given to him by his brother. It was Marlin's responsibility to help with the harvest in addition to the daily chores of fetching water for the family, making tortillas and washing the clothes.

As a young child Marlin earned an academic scholarship to attend school, where she excelled.However her family's lives changed dramatically when Marlin was eight years old. In late October 1998, Hurricane Mitch slammed Honduras with Category-5 winds and rain. The village of Lorencito, like most of Honduras, was ravaged with flooding, causing devastating mudslides. When the winds and flood waters subsided, both the land and crops of many of the Honduran people had been washed away, plunging them into a new level of poverty. (click here to read more...)