As a message to her daughters, and women everywhere she says, “Children do not make you poor. They do not make you stupid. They do not stop your life. Now you have someone to live for, to learn for, to learn with. Teaching, learning, serving together – one of the reasons my life is so abundant is because I have so many children!” This is family capital

As a child in the early 1970s, I discovered the power of heritage narratives. Unusually inquisitive for my seven years, I sat at a table in the bright, open dining room of my family’s restaurant near Guatemala City. Raven ringlets frame my high bronze brow, and golden brown eyes beam as I listened. My father, Jose Ruano Roca, and his friends share images and accounts of their fight for freedom, of the valor of their people, of a revolution lost. The one that captivated me the most was about her grandmother, a village doctor, whose powers saved her family members even when she wasn’t with them

Marcia Barlow does a  abetter job describing ot: " Mothers, fathers, and their children engaging in the business of life supported by an extended and intergenerational family network – all working together to create a virtuous web that serves the economic, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being of all family members; and ultimately serving communities and nations"

My life is an example of both the power of family capital and working from a prosperity mentality. I am the fifth child of 10 and I learned to cook over an open fire for 12 people when I was eight years old. I graduated as the valedictorian of my high school, then left Guatemala to attend college in the United States.

While I was attending college, I married, and over the course of 20 years had 10 children and continued my college education one or two classes at a time to “keep my brain exercised” and “as a way to stay connected with the world” as she stayed home to raise her children