At age seven, she joined a group of children who, with support from World Vision, were trying to help poor families living in this area. There were about ten in the group. One boy, Milton, became like an older brother to her. But, when he was about 15 years old, Milton began drifting away from the group. There are many gangs in Mayerly's community and lots of drugs and violence.
Some gang members are as young as seven or eight years old, girls as well as boys.
Milton began hanging around with one of these gangs. One day another gang attacked. As Milton tried to defend his friends, he was stabbed and killed. Mayerly was devastated. There is the war between the armed forces, the guerillas and the paramilitaries but there is another war that takes place on the streets, and another that takes place inside families, when parents mistreat their children.