Title: The Invincible Flying Eagle
Author: Perto Herrera
Publication Date: August 2, 2013
Tour Host: Dreams Come True Promotions
Perto Herrera:
Sexual Abuse Survivor, Author, Speaker, Humanitarian, Human Rights Activist
After a successful career in home health care, including managing his own company, Perto Herrera became an author and continued his calling to help needy people, especially victims of sexual abuse.
Herrera himself is a survivor of severe sexual molestation as a young boy raised in a poverty-stricken family in a small village in El Salvador. The personal lessons learned had led the author to fulltime writing, speaking, and philanthropic efforts to help sexual abuse victims and individuals trapped in poverty.
Two to three times a year Herrera travels to meet face-to-face with sexual abuse victims, parents and family members of victims, and men who are abusers. In 2010 on an early trip to El Salvador, Perto actually met two of the men who sexually abused him as a boy, talked with them, hugged them, and forgave them. His message to victims is how to survive and escape from abuse through courage, faith, and concerted action. His message to parents is to believe their children and protect them.
Perto also has paid the costs to send six children to college to escape poverty and enter professions such as law, business and teaching. He has pledged to spend 75 percent of the proceeds from his book to help needy persons and abused persons. Perto’s personal story of abuse is told in his first book, The Invincible Flying Eagle: Book One. This painful and shocking memoir tells the story of how Perto was abused by 11 people (nine men and two women) over a period of five years until the day his saving grace – in the form of an eagle, attacked his most dangerous abuser. The eagle, Perto believes to be a messenger from God, guided him toward a safer place and a new chance at life.
After escaping from his village as a pre-teen, Perto was captured by guerrilla forces and forced to serve as a child warrior in the rebel army. After refusing to use a rifle to kill anyone, Perto was punished several times but ended up being a radio operator for the commanding general. After lying to a priest about wanting to become a priest, Perto escaped the Army with the help of monks and lived in two convents in Central America before escaping to Mexico and then to the United States.
Summing up his mission, Herrera says: “I want the needy ones and victims of abuse to know that they are not alone anymore. I am here for them as they strive toward the pinnacles of personal recovery.”
“When I was raped and abused as a young boy I felt alone and trapped without hope,” says Herrera. “I now want to do everything I can to help people trapped in poverty and to help children who feel alone and guilty because they have been molested. My book is to educate readers about how horrid sexual abuse is, and my humanitarian efforts are to help victims recover and live a normal life feeling loved and worthy.”
The book details in raw, lurid detail the deplorable sexual attacks on a seven-year-old boy, his mother’s denial, and hopelessness that led to several suicide attempts, and how the Eagle saved him from drowning, and rescued him from a vicious rape.
In 2010 on one of his early trips back to El Salvador to the village where he was raised, Herrera encountered two of the men who molested and sexually abused him as a youth. He told them why it was wrong, the effect it had on him, and asked if they were still abusers. At the end of the encounter, he hugged his former abusers and forgave them...Men who are victims of sexual abuse don’t like to talk about their experiences which is why very few men will write a book about being molested as a helpless young boy of seven. And no author, except Perto H, will write a book filled with raw, shocking and horrid detail about those experiences..But Perto H. did exactly that in "The Invincible Flying Eagle" because he wants readers to come to grips with the reality of childhood abuse and understand just exactly what ‘s 'sexual
There was a gentleman in our neighborhood named B1. I liked him very much because he was a quiet, good man—a gentleman is the only way to describe him. But there were rumors in the village, and people were saying that he was fooling around with my mother—or, perhaps, the other way around—my mother was fooling around with him. Although he was a single man, I didn’t believe the rumors. I remember I was so mad at everybody because they were saying bad things about two people I cared about. Well, unfortunately, I was wrong, and the rumors were true. A few months later, I noticed my mother’s tummy was getting bigger and bigger. She was pansona—pregnant Dahhh! So I guess that makes me a dummy? Or maybe I was just an innocent boy? Uhmmm…
When my grandpa became aware of my mother’s pregnancy, he was so mad that he wanted to kill her. He had an old rifle and actually went after her, so she ran to save her life and without even thinking about it, I followed her. There was no way I was going to be left behind or leave her to die alone. When we first fled home, I remember running through the creek and jungle. We hid, trying not to make any noise because Grandpa was always following close behind us and because I went with my mother, my grandfather was even more furious.
He kept calling my name, “Perto! Come back here, Perto. This is not your problem! The one who is going to die is your mother!”
The Invincible Flying Eagle is a TRUE story about Perto Herrera's life. It is a detailed, sad story of what his life was like when he was just a young boy living in a poverty stricken community. The story details the path his life takes from being a young innocent child to being in the hands of a monster that abuses him. No one does anything to help him escape the abuse even when he is brave enough to finally speak up it.
Reading about the feelings and thoughts of his during the times he was abused is eye opening and heart stopping at times. To read how is able to finally able to find an ally in an unexpected place and how the pair come to escape from under the control of his abuser makes this an excellent read.
Following along through one situation into another of abuse is hard. But in the end, it is worth it. The knowledge gifted along with the exposure to such environments that some children (and adults) live in is excellent.
A native of Chalantenango, El Salvador, Perto Herrera escaped to Guatemala, then to Mexico and then Los Angeles and lived in the San Fernando Valley, Stockton and Tucson before moving to Houston. before and After graduating from high school, Herrera earned several certifications in home health care and general management. Before organizing his own company, in 1997 Ph Homecare Management, LLC, Herrera worked as an agricultural worker, medical assistant, radio operator, textile factory worker and has volunteered as a Red Cross blood processor, bilingual instructor, trainer for caregivers, and as a catechism instructor.
Two to three times a year Herrera travels to meet face-to-face with sexual abuse victims, parents and family members of victims, and men who are abusers. In 2010 on an early trip to El Salvador, Perto actually met two of the men who sexually abused him as a boy, talked with them, hugged them, and forgave them. His message to victims is how to survive and escape from abuse through courage, faith, and concerted action. His message to parents is to believe their children and protect them.
Summing up his mission, Herrera says: "I want the needy ones and victims of abuse to know that they are not alone anymore. I am here for them as they strive toward the pinnacles of personal recovery."
Author Q&A
whishing that when they are done reading "The invincible flying eagle" they can see life differently
2- Do you have one happy moment growing up that helped you through the rough times?
my encounter with four Angel's including saint Michael the arch angel
3- What made you want to share your story with the world? What made you finally start writing it?
I started to write notes about 30 years ago, without knowingly it was a therapy. along the years I read several books written by sexual abuse survivals but, non impacted me because they didn't have the details of the abuse including the bad language used by the sexual maniacs at the time when they commit their crimes. that is why I decided to tell my story simply the way how occurred.
4- What is the proudest moment of your adult life?
one day at work when I hear some professionals talking about their past, and the way they were talking with so much hate, rancor, revenge. that moment I realized that I had non of those feelings in my heart or mind. and in the 2010 after 30 years since I left my village I went back and I met with two of my sexual abusers, I had the courage to talk to them, to tell them what they did to me was wrong and why. I told them if they were still doing it to innocent children to stop immediately. when I left I said goodbye and gave them a hug. that was the happier moment of my adult life.
5- How long did it take you to write the whole book? Is there a sequel?
I started Feb 2007 to Dec 2012 it took me almost 6 years. there will be four book. book one was published Aug 2013 currently I am working on my second book
6- Do you feel there is any one major change that could be made to help avoid this happening to children in the future?
the only major change is to provide education, training to children and in general the public. especially people from undereducated communities. and that is doable, and that is what I am working to delivery. which I have been doing it since 2010. at the time when I meet one of my abuser what he told me stubbed my heart and I knew he was still abusing children and right at that moment I knew I had hard work to do. to educate train people, including training parents to talk to their children openly with no taboo, including talking to their children openly by calling the private parts by their names.
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