For twelve long years, Lena Davis was known as “the Garbage Girl.” Every morning, she rode her worn-out bicycle to school wearing the same patched-up shirt her mother had sewn from discarded scraps. While her classmates opened lunchboxes filled with sandwiches and snacks, Lena quietly unwrapped a dry piece of bread from an old paper bag. Some students mocked her, kicking her food to the floor and laughing that she was just eating garbage.
She never responded. She simply picked up her bread, wiped it off, and continued eating in silence. Every evening, she helped her mother, Maria, collect bottles, cans, and scraps around the town. Even when Maria’s hands trembled from exhaustion, she would smile softly and whisper, “Study hard, my daughter. One day, you will rise above all this.”
