Hi, my name is Victoria, and we are the Marables.

Almost a year ago, my husband and I took a leap of faith — we sold everything and drove our family from North Carolina to Mexico, searching for a better life for ourselves and our five neurodivergent children. We are both entrepreneurs: I’m a hairstylist, and my husband is a musician who recently opened a music school for kids here in our community. We’ve been working hard to build a life while raising our children, with our older kids now attending public school in Mexico.

Shortly after arriving, I experienced a medical crisis and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and cervical stenosis — conditions that limit how much I can physically work, and that require regular medical treatment so I can continue working. Despite these challenges, I pushed through, determined to provide for our family and give my husband the chance to rest and rebuild after several traumatic years.

But life has continued to test us. Like many families, we’ve faced unexpected hardships — major car repairs, an accident, a hospitalization. Most recently, we discovered dangerous mold in our home after months of our children being sick on and off, with our youngest child even hospitalized as a result. Mold is a serious issue for our family: when our son was an infant, he was hospitalized due to mold exposure, which left him with severe allergies to seven different types of mold. Because of this, we now need to move urgently for the health and safety of our children.

In Mexico, relocating is financially challenging: to move into a new rental we must pay approximately four months’ worth of rent upfront. Additionally, we need to secure separate spaces for our home-based businesses — my salon and my husband’s music school — so that future disruptions like this won’t completely halt our income again.

I’m exhausted, and I’m humbly reaching out for help — something I very rarely do. My husband doesn’t even know I’m writing this, but I know we can’t do it alone right now.

Any amount you can contribute will help us secure a safe home and keep our small businesses running so we can continue caring for our children and serving our community. We are deeply grateful for your support, your kindness, and simply for taking the time to read and share our story.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

UPDATE: We have found a house and need to give them 22000 mxn= $1200 us to hold it for us. The Landlord will give us early access to the home so we can begin moving our things out.

UPDATE: Thank you to everyone that has donated so far we have secured a home. This home has solar panels amd we will be saving a lot of money with a noticeably less energy bill. Next we have the moving expenses of the truck, and traveling back and forth to move what and finding a new space for the salon and music school.

UPDATE:

Hi everyone,

First, I want to thank every single person who has supported us on this journey so far. Your prayers, encouragement, and generosity have carried us through moments when we didn’t know how we would make it.

When we decided to move our family of seven to Mérida, Mexico, we came with hope and big dreams — the dream of a slower, more intentional life where we could raise our children in a safer, more supportive environment while building businesses that reflect our passions and serve our community. But this past year has tested us in ways we never imagined.

We’ve poured everything into creating a life here: homeschooling two of our youngest, helping our older kids thrive in school, and building businesses that could sustain us while also creating spaces for other Black and Brown families abroad through AfroVida and our other projects. But the reality has been difficult. Living client-to-client while paying bills, managing the rising costs of housing, school, and daily expenses, and facing unexpected health concerns has stretched us thin. There have been moments where I’ve had to choose between slowing down to take care of myself and working harder to provide for my family, and the weight of that decision is heavy every single day.

Still, we haven’t given up. We believe deeply in what we’re building here — for our children, for our community, and for other families walking a similar path. We want to give our kids stability, a home where they feel safe, an education that feeds their curiosity, and opportunities that inspire their creativity. We want to continue creating spaces where our culture, our stories, and our voices are celebrated.

Right now, we need help to stabilize so we can keep moving forward. Your support means being able to cover our basic living costs, invest in our children’s education, and sustain the community work we’ve started here. Even if you can’t give financially, sharing our story with others means more than you know.

We’re holding on to faith, leaning on love, and believing that better days are ahead. Thank you for being a part of our journey and for helping us continue to build the life we’ve been dreaming of.

With gratitude and love,

The Marable Family