On Tuesday, June 8th 15 year old Sergio Hernandez was killed on the International Bridge in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. On Wednesday, June 9th I crossed over the same bridge to go to Juárez for the first time. I recognized the bridge and the graffiti along the riverbanks from the different newspaper articles that covered the story. There were a lot of people on the site, some were cleaning the area, while camera crews continued to cover the story.
Juárez was actually pretty scary going in the first time. The bridge that connects Mexico and the US is lined with security guards, casually carrying around rifles and some even machine guns. The guards on the Mexican side all look really, really young - probably not much older than me. There are also a lot beggars and people peddling goods that wait right along the bridge, knowing very well that tourists have money.
The minute you officially leave the bridge and walk into Mexico, about 15 guys are sitting around, waiting to see if you are a viable target for pickpocketing/harassing. Right before we got on the bridge, Ana said "I'm not going to talk to you in English for a few minutes until we pass those guys. Just try not to make eye contact with." But as I got off the bridge, the guys seemed to surround the bridge landing - there was nowhere to look at but them.
The hospital is really modern, comparable, even better than some institutions I have seen in the US. A modern three story building, the hospital sticks out as one of the newer buildings amongst the small taquerias that line the rest of the street. At the hospital, we met Graciela and Libby - two of the volunteer coordinators who work with the Promotoras de Salud initiative. They took Anna and I on a tour of the hospital, while explaining to me the program we would be most active with (Colpomovil). The program is essentially a mobile clinic that travels around rural and impoverished regions of northern Mexico providing free healthcare. The new initiative was focused primarily on detecting and treating breast, cervical and uterine cancer amongst a population of women who do not have the resources to pursue these check-ups.
The hospital itself is very modern, but the patients in line stood in stark contrast with the facility. Hospital de la Familia is a private, non-profit hospital - therefore for many of its patients, the Hospital is their last resort. Though Mexico has nationalized healthcare, the public hospitals can often only offer low quality care and patients must wait for hours, sometimes days to receive emergency care. While the hospital provides routine checkups and other basic care, many of the families are there because they seek immediate assistance. There was one woman waiting in the ER with her eight children, all of them barefoot and many with only pants on. She was carrying her screaming infant and she looked so tired, so exhausted...
The second floor was where I best saw why it was so important for the hospital to continue. This second floor was expressly for obstetric care; delivering and caring for newborns. When Graciela took us to this particular ward she indicated that one end of the wing was for healthy newborns and their recovering mothers. She then indicated that the opposite wing was for newborns who faced complications. There was a waiting area with what seemed like over 40 people carrying newborns and infants. The hospital only has about 6 incubating machines for pre-mature infants and only so much other equipment to tend to other needs. The other parents had to wait their turn with their infants for however long it took.
Having now gone to the Hospital de la Familia, I feel privileged in being able to donate my time and intern with the FEMAP Foundation. Having directly seen the cause I am working for, and the people who are benefiting from the Foundation, I feel fortunate and grateful towards SCB and FEMAP for sending me here and allowing me to meet and work with these people.
"There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them."
- Denis Waitley
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Love the quote.
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