Judite married her husband when she was 18 years old. They met when she was 15, where he was a border in her mother's boarding house. They were married three years later, and two years after that, her first-born, Claudia was born. But like her parents, they realized that Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe was not a safe place to live and raise a family. She recalled several times with rebel bombs flying overhead, that she and Claudia would hide under her bed, so scared. It was as if hiding, would protect them. Finally in 1981, with $2,000 they were allowed to take, they left Rhodesia for Canada to London, Ontario and a new life. Claudia was 6 years old, and Judite was pregnant. 
In May, 1982, Bruno was born. But Judite describes that time as going through much turmoil in her life. She often recalls that period — moving to a new country with no money; with Canada going through a major recession, interest rates at 20% and jobs impossible to find. Even though she had been in banking back home, no bank would hire her because she had no Canadian experience. She recounts telling one bank manager that where she came from a debit was a debit and a credit was a credit, and she asked if it was different in Canada.

To say life was difficult would have been laughable had it not been so tough. But finally the London YMCA took her a chance on her. Her shift ran from 11:30am to 8:30pm. She had 2 kids in babysitting and she would find herself in the middle of winter, having to run blocks to catch the late bus to Whiteoaks. There she walked the rest of the distance to the babysitter, pick up her kids and walk them home in the cold, arriving late at night. She would bath them, put them to bed and the next day start all over again. Ultimately her marriage broke up, Bruno had been diagnosed with ADD and she had endless challenges. After a few years, her life started to come together. She met her husband, Ed when her boss from the YMCA introduced them. But she found it difficult introducing a new person into her world. She made it clear that her kids came first. They knew each other a number of years before they got married. Claudia was 13 and Bruno was 6. Claudia was the typical teenager. Her Mom didn't know anything, her friends were the most important thing in her life, curfews were ridiculous, she did not share very much, and spent a lot of time in her bedroom on the phone with girlfriends. Bruno on the other hand loved his mom. She was the best. He said he was going to marry her when he grew up. He was a typical boy, into sports and got irritated when the girls called - and they did. Sports - soccer, hockey, basketball were his passion. Theirs was a happy home. 

And here they were living in the suburbs, a cottage at the lake and Bruno attending the Christian Academy. Things were coming together—the kids were happy and Judite was happy. But it wasn't meant to be for long. On December 20th, 1996, her life came crashing down. Her son, her precious beautiful little boy, Bruno was tragically taken away from her, killed in a car accident. He was 14 years old. 

It was a Friday, just before Christmas. Judite owned and operated an African art store in Stratford. She would commute daily. For some reason she closed her gallery early that day and headed home along Fanshawe Park Road just after 7 o'clock. She could see there had been an accident at the corner of Richmond and Fanshawe - so many lights — ambulances, police cars and fire trucks. When she arrived home she asked where Bruno was. Bruno had gone bowling with some of his school friends, but she was annoyed because they had just moved into our new house 2 days earlier and with Christmas a few days away, the house was a mess. They had not fully unpacked and Bruno had promised he would work on his bedroom. At least the night before Bruno had helped Judite put up the Christmas tree. At 9pm the phone rang. It was from the police, confirming Bruno's address. The police said that Bruno had been in an accident and they were coming over. She wondered why would the police come over? Why wouldn't they simply tell her to go to the hospital. 

When the door bell rung, there were 2 police officers. They asked Judite if she was Bruno's mother and could they come in. As they came into the kitchen they spoke of the accident. They wanted Ed to go with them to the Hospital and they asked that Judite wait until he came back. She did not realize that they had taken Ed to identify Bruno. When he returned he told Judite that Bruno was gone. It was impossible to believe. Judite had just dropped Bruno at school that morning. Ed took Judite to see Bruno and denial set in. After that everything was a blur...the arrangements, the funeral, the people who attended the funeral, Christmas. Judite was numb. She wanted to die. 
Judite's heart had shattered in a million pieces. She no longer had the strength nor the fight left in her. She was defeated. Over the next several years she became an empty shell, trying to keep things together for Claudia and her husband without Bruno. She had a huge hole in her heart. She could not bring a sense of purpose back into her life. She even engaged in a small business, later adding three additional businesses. They were extremely successful and Judite encouraged her daughter, Claudia to join the family businesses. Despite the success, she thought that keeping busy and distracted would ease her pain, but she was not coping and she was losing.