Marina Luz Chapman has no memory of her life as a young child with her parents.

For when she was four, Marina was kidnapped and taken away from the world she knew.

"I have no memory of my parents," says Marina. "I must have been kidnapped because I remember someone putting their hand over my face. Kidnapping children is common in Colombia, for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes children are sold to other families, sometimes they are forced to work. There is no baby registration there, children go missing all the time."

Marina managed to escape her captors and, as a child, lived on the streets. Eventually she was rescued by a family who went on to send her to Bradford, to work as a cook for their children who were studying here.

Marina arrived in the city 27 years ago with no education and speaking not a word of English. Today she has achieved a City and Guilds Level 2 in childcare at Rathbone, a charity in Bradford enabling disadvantaged young people, or older adults returning to employment, to access education, training or full-time work. And Marina is working on a book about her life to raise money for charities helping street children in Colombia.

Marina, 59, worked as a cook at the National Media Museum and in a nursing home before deciding to go into childcare.

"I thought my lack of education would hold me back but my daughter persuaded me to apply for this course and now I have a certificate - for the first time in my life," she says. "It feels wonderful.

"I enjoy working with children, it's important to listen to them. Children want to be listened to. There are challenges but it's all about common sense - the same as cooking!"

Marina returned to South America last year for the first time since leaving her home country aged 32. She made the emotional journey to research a book her daughter Vanessa has been writing about her life, to be published next year.

"I started writing it but I was going to put it on the fire because I thought I couldn't do it. I never thought my life was that interesting!" says Marina. "My younger daughter, Vanessa, said she would help me continue it and we went to Colombia together. We went back to Cucuta, where I lived as a child after I was taken from home, and it had changed so much. It was even more dangerous than I remembered. They kill people like chickens."

Marina is keen to trace her parents but doesn't even have their name. "I chose my own name and I often wondered why I chose this name. Maybe someone in my family was called Marina Luz," she says. "I went to the village I came from and I had a sense of once being there."

While in Colombia, Maria saw children living on the streets. "It broke my heart," she says. "What happened to me has made me appreciate life in Britain so much. People complain about things here but when you see how people live in places like Colombia you realise it's not so bad in this country."

She became determined to help children who are bringing themselves up in homeless poverty, just as she did, and now works with a charity called Substitute Families for Abandoned Children, dedicated to establishing supported family environments for children separated from their real families due to wars, disasters, poverty, abuse and disease.

"Orphaned, abandoned or abused, these children have experienced the greatest loss imaginable, their family," says the charity's website. "We believe abandoned children have the right to normal family life experiences during their childhood, rather than the loneliness and isolation of an institution."

Proceeds from Marina's book will go to the charity. She's also raising funds at the Abundant Life Centre in Bradford, which she attends.

Marina lived on the streets until the age of eight when she was rescued by a woman who sent her to live with her sister, married to a wealthy textile worker. Marina became a cook and nanny for the couple's children, and when they were sent to Bradford to study textiles she came too, to cook and clean for them.

"I remember thinking how cold Bradford was," she says. "The first time I saw snow I went out and hugged it! I was fascinated by it."

Marina met her husband, John Chapman, at the former Church House in Bradford. "I didn't speak English and he didn't speak Spanish but it didn't matter," she smiles. Now the couple, who live in Allerton, have two daughters, Joanna and Vanessa, and two grandchildren. Marina proudly shows me photographs of them.

During her childcare course Marina worked at the former Precious Children nursery, based at Restoration House in Bradford, where her daughter Joanna was manager. Marina took the Train to Gain programme, through Rathbone, which led to her childcare qualification. She is now seeking a job in nursery nursing.

"Marina is a natural with children," says Rathbone childcare training adviser Rachel Knox. "When I met her I thought she was incredible. I was amazed at what she'd been through, her life story is like a TV drama! I couldn't believe it when she said she'd never been to school. Marina is the first of my 26 students to achieve Level 2 NVQ in Children's Care Learning and Development. I'm so proud of her."

Marina started the course in May last year and completed it in February.

"The Train to Gain initiative was to get people who have had no previous training but do a fantastic job up to level 2," says Rachel. "As Marina was already working with children and was fantastic at the practical side of it, she was a perfect candidate. I knew she'd need lots of support and I wanted to encourage her as she wasn't confident she could do it.

"I visited her on many occasions to observe and help with her file work. I also gathered evidence through professional discussion and statements from her superviser. Her employer was very supportive.

"The NVQ Level 2 in children's learning and development has seven units and Marina had to demonstrate that she could meet the criteria in performance and knowledge.

"Marina is such an inspiration," adds Rachel. "She shows what can be achieved with determination and hard work when it seems the odds are stacked against you."

This weekend the parents of Madeleine McCann will face the first anniversary of the four-year-old's disappearance.

"I first met Marina the week Madeleine went missing," says Rachel. "It became even more poignant when I heard Marina's story, and what had happened to her as a child."

Marina says: "I was the same age as Madeleine when I was kidnapped. It was very emotional for me, I have not stopped thinking about that little girl."

Now Marina would like to talk to children in schools about her experiences.

"I never thought I would be able to do this. I had no education and English is not my first language," she says. "I want to show children what you can achieve in life."

  • Rathbone is based on Cheapside, Bradford. For more information ring (01274) 718300 or visit rathboneuk.org/location For more about Substitute Families for Abandoned Children ring (0113) 2947084 or visit sfac.org.uk