Marielis lives with her mother Yorleidis, her father Rudys, her brother Rudys, and her sister Marelis. The household language is Spanish.

Marielis is a cheerful little girl who loves to play with dolls, dancing, and watching TV. She aspires to become a doctor. She helps take care of her younger siblings and with small errands. She is a bright child and studies hard, achieves excellent grades, and enjoys mathematics, natural science, and sports. She travels less than 30 minutes by foot to school each day.

Marielis lives in a small house of cardboard under very poor, unhealthy conditions. Many families do not have their own latrine, which increases incidence of disease among the children. Lack of access to clean safe drinking water all year round is a real problem and can lead to water-borne diseases such as diarrhea and cholera.