Connecting Care

CONNECTING CARE

Photos and stories from community health workers in Chiapas, Mexico

This project was completed by Compañeros en Salud in partnership with Samuel Family Foundation This book was created by: Aaron Levenson Creative Director Franscico Pablo Interviewer Rocío López Content Editor Trisha Schimek Coordinator Daniel Palazuelos Project Manager

A special thanks to the acompañantes that participated in this project: Aristea Díaz, Elizabeth Vázquez, Mariela Díaz, Beatriz Pérez, Aracely DeLeón, Guadalupe López, Magdalena Gutiérrez, Yadira Roblero, Damaris Díaz, Eudeli Velázquez, Georgina Díaz, and Marcela Pérez

Table of contents Accompanying patients

2

The ones we love

8

A day in the life

14

United or divided

21

Stories of the Sierra

27

Photo by Beatriz PĂŠrez

Every photo has a story In following pages you will find photos and quotes from community health workers who live and work in rural communities in the Sierra Madre region of Chiapas, Mexico. These community health workers, called acompañantes in Spanish, are local women who are hired and trained by Partners In Health to regularly visit their neighbors who are patients living with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression. They accompany their patients throughout their treatment, ensure medication adherence, provide emotional support, and serve as a connection between the community and the Partners In Health clinic.

The Sierra Madre region is one the poorest and most isolated areas in all of Mexico. Most people in this part of the world live in poverty and lack access to quality health care.

Partners In Health works in partnership with the government to deliver unprecedented care to these rural communities and acompañantes account for a large part of the organization’s success. The Samuel Family Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the arts, healthcare, and education, invited Partners In Health to explore the role of acompañantes in overcoming social isolation and advancing social connectedness in their communities.

Twelve acompañantes from three different communities were asked to share their views on the concept of social isolation through photography. None of the twelve women had ever used a camera. They were asked to photograph their lives, work, and their role in fostering social connectedness. These are the photos they took and the stories behind them.

How was the experience of taking photos?

“We had never held a camera in our hands before.”

-Yadira Roblero

“I was a little embarrassed, I was afraid to go out and take photos at first.”

-Eudeli Velázquez

“I really liked that in a tiny little thing we could capture our life story and our community.”

-Guadalupe López

“I liked how I could take photos of the things most important to me.”

-Damaris Díaz

“It’s important because through a camera you can get to know someone better.”

-Aracely DeLeón

“At times we don’t take note of what we do in a day, but by taking photos you can see what activities we do”.

-Magdalena Gutiérrez

“I had never operated a camera in my life”.

-Marcela Pérez

1

“We suffered a bit, but it was also fun because we didn’t know anything about cameras”.

-Georgina Díaz

ACCOMPANYING PATIENTS

Photo by Georgina Díaz

2 Photo by Georgina Díaz

Photo by Eudeli Velázquez

Photo by Beatriz Pérez

Photo by Marcela Pérez

Photo by Georgina Díaz

Photo by Yadira Roblero

Photo by Guadalupe López

Photo by Marcela Pérez

The lights went out

Mariela Díaz

I have a patient who is blind. I fill his pillbox and my sister-in-law gives him his medicine in the morning and in the evening. Since he cannot see, she opens the pillbox for him, puts the pills in his hand, and gives him a drink to swallow them. My sister-in-law is the main person caring for him. He’s blind, but his illnesses are controlled. On the 15th of January his vision started to fail and by the 17th the lights went out forever. I don’t know if there is something to bring back his vision or not.

In the beginning he was sad he couldn’t see, but we started to remind him that he doesn’t have pain anywhere, his feet don’t hurt, he doesn’t have sores, and his stomach doesn’t hurt. We explain all this to him so that he doesn’t feel sad. Back when he felt sad, he’d say, “For what reason do I want this life? The moment is going to arrive when you all will find me laying in this bed, dead. I am going to do whatever I can so that I die.” We told him not to say such words, “Even though you are blind, your life is still good as long as you are not lacking food to eat”. With treatment his depression improved and he is adapting. It has now been three months since he went blind. I’m happy because if we had not talked with him, he would have taken his life. That’s what he said he wanted to do, but now he doesn’t say things like that anymore.

3

Little by little

Georgina Díaz

She is one of my patients that had high blood pressure. In the beginning it was a little tough because she didn’t want to accept my visits and she wasn’t taking her pills. She was always out of control until little by little—it wasn’t a quick thing—she accepted my visits. It was very difficult because she told me she preferred to have her daughter, not me, take care of her.

But later she began to trust me, take the pills, and accept my visits. As of now, her blood pressure is well controlled and they have reduced her pills.

She is one of the patients that I am proud of because even though I could not heal her, at least I could get her illness under control through my visits.

She knows she is not alone

She is a little old woman that I think is isolated despite the fact that all of her family is always very close to her. She has dementia; she forgets the things she is going to do and where she left things like her medication and that makes her feel very lonely. She is the patient that I visit the most, sometimes more than two times a week and I am always available for her. Every time I go she likes to chat with me because she can vent. I talk to her about how she feels and what’s going on with her family and afterwards she feels better. She tells me that her children don’t pay much attention to her. In contrast, she says that I am an important person to her because she never would have hoped to receive support from someone that is not family. Before, she was a Jehovah’s Witness and she would meet with more people, but after the death of her husband she fell into a depression and stopped attending. Later she began to go to the talks and courses held at the clinic and I became in charge of her care. She is a very special women to me and I have a lot of affection for her now. When I first became her community health worker she was doing very poorly. I have noticed a lot of change in her since.

Now she requires less appointments because she is more in control. She has a more positive mentality and doesn’t talk about negative things like before. Every time I visit her, she is calmer, happier, and feels less alone. She says that she feels sure of herself and that she wants to be better. I believe I improved her life with my constant visits, little by little she trusted me more.

Now I feel that she knows that she is not alone, that there are people here to help her.

4

A great achievement

Eudeli Velázquez

In this little house, well actually it’s a tiny room, is where a man was locked in since he was twenty years old because they believed he was crazy. The whole community was afraid of him. His family had brought him to many doctors but they said he was fine, they said he didn’t have anything wrong with him. When the doctors from Partners In Health came, it was a big relief for him and his family because they helped him. They attended to him and took him out of this tiny house.

Everyone gathered around, watching to see what he was going to do.

The doctors from Partners In Health brought him to a medical center for mental health. When he returned, everyone was surprised, including his family. Everyone was glad he was living with his family again, but some were still afraid of him. The doctor said that this man would need a community health worker, but all of them were afraid of how he used to be before. They said no.

He was isolated because he was sick, because everyone was afraid of him. He is a patient with schizophrenia, but the people didn’t know what he had, they just said he was crazy. I had always wanted to help him. I told myself that this is my opportunity to help him. I offered to be his community health worker. I’ve been happy because he is doing well. Now he is a normal person, like any other person, and he is no longer in that little room. It’s great, I would say he is a happy person now.

5

It’s a great achievement for him that the people are not afraid of him.

He goes out to walk around the community and I’m closer to him now.

I’m glad I could help when possible and be there for him so that he takes his medication and goes to his doctor’s appointments. More than anything, I’m glad I can be useful for him.

Proud of my work

Yadira Roblero

This is my community health worker shirt that they gave me when we began our work. It is to identify ourselves when we go out to see our patients. At first, it was very difficult to gain the trust of my patients. But now I have worked for a year and a half and my patients trust me more. Now they talk more about their lives and what’s going on with them. I’m proud to be a community health worker and to visit my patients.

One of my patients is isolated. She does not join the community because she can’t walk. She says that if is she could walk, she would go out to wander around and visit others, but she can’t.

First, she only had hypertension, but then she fractured her leg and now is in a wheelchair. She doesn’t feel well. She says it would be better to die because she does not want to be suffering in her bed or wheelchair anymore. She feels hopeless, she wants to be able to walk immediately. It has only been seven months since she got injured but she wishes she could walk right now.

She doesn’t want to be trapped any longer.

When I arrive, I tell her to be patient and that she will need to wait a long time, but she will be able to walk again. She says that’s why she feels hopeless. She asks me for medicine, I go to the clinic, and I bring her some. Sometimes she does not remember her appointments so I go and tell her. She thanks me for reminding her because she keeps forgetting. When I visit her, she feels happy. She says she feels proud that I come to visit her.

6

I want to help them

Marcela Pérez

7

I’m very fond of these children and I wish I could help them. Like there is a program for patients with uncontrolled diabetes, I would also like to be able to help children. There are many children that are not cared for – they are malnourished, and they walk around very dirty and without shoes. Since we are helping adults, I would like to help children as well so they don’t become malnourished. The baby in this photo is very cute because he is breastfeeding, but when babies stop being fed mother’s milk, they become very malnourished. These children are not well cared for because they came from a woman who had one child right after another. I would like there to be some help for them so that they don’t fall into malnutrition and are better cared for.

THE ONES WE LOVE

Photo by Georgina Díaz

8 Photo by Yadira Roblero

Photo by Aracely DeLeón

Photo by Eudeli Velázquez

Photo by Elizabeth Vázquez

Photo by Guadalupe López

Photo by Damaris Díaz

Photo by Georgina Díaz

Photo by Marcela Pérez

I hope they have a better life

She’s my daughter, the only one I have. Perhaps she’ll be my only one. She will help me since she is already growing up. Now she is studying, but I don’t know what she will do when she is a woman. She will decide if she wants to keep studying, or work, or what. I would like her to keep studying. Education is good for children, it gives them a future. If she keeps studying, and God allows, she could have whatever career she wants. I was fifteen when I married my husband.

My daughter is ten now. I don’t want her to get married at the same age as I did because back then we were ignorant. Now though, the girls are very aware and don’t think about marriage.

Now they say, “when I’m big I’m going to study and work”.

-Beatriz Pérez In his hand my son holds a plane the school assigned as part of his homework. For the time being, I don’t want to have more children, just the two for now. As of now they are little and it is hard to take care of them, but they are growing up. We don’t know how they are going to be, but we want them to be good. They are important to me because the day will come when they are grown up and I can take comfort in that they will take care of me. I hope they have a better life. I’m proud to have my two sons and I keep chugging along so that someday they also feel proud of me and my husband.

-Yadira Roblero She is my daughter and she is important to me because she is my first girl. What matters the most to me is that she is healthy, that she goes to school, and that she is a happy girl.

-Eudeli Velázquez I was very young when I married. I was sixteen, the same age as my oldest daughter is now.

For that reason, I would like for them to keep going to school. The error I made was marrying very young. I don’t want them to go through the same experience I did because when you are sixteen years old, you are practically still a child. You don’t know how to deal with marriage, which is a big responsibility. I would like for my daughters to grow up to a sufficient age so that they can make good decisions. I’m very proud of my daughters and I hope that in the future they will be people that I am still proud of.

-Marcela Pérez

Photo by Beatriz Pérez

Photo by Marcela Pérez

Photo by Eudeli Velázquez

Photo by Yadira Roblero

He makes me laugh

Guadalupe López

10

He’s my little pig and he’s my way of entertaining myself. Like my children, I also take care of him, I make sure he is clean, that he eats, that he doesn’t lack for attention. I love him, and he brightens my life.

Sometimes he escapes and I have to run to find him but he amuses me. He’s very fun and makes me laugh a lot, and so that’s why I chose to photograph him.

When he’s no longer here, I don’t know what I’m going to do, so I take care of him every day. He’s a part of my family.

He always called

Yadira Roblero

My husband means a lot to me. The truth is I admire him despite that he is a man and he has his own values. He always values the work that I do and has supported me since I began working for Partners In Health. He really has supported me a lot and I always have admired that in him because not all men are like that. There are many men that would be jealous, or do not want their wives to leave the house. But not him, he never scolds me or says anything when I go out late.

When we first met, I was in junior high school and he had already graduated from junior high. That day he was going to receive his ID card and I walked by the basketball court and he met me. Well, at the time I didn’t live here, I lived in a ranch. Later when I saw him, he came to my ranch and he said he intended to talk with me, win me over, and one day we could decide to get married.

We had dated for about five years when he left to go to the United States for two years. He achieved his goal to build his house and buy his truck. The years that he was away were okay because he always called me. He would make a point to call to me every week or every fifteen days. Back then I lived at my ranch so I had to hike up the mountain to receive the calls. When he returned, we decided to get married. He has been good to me. I’ll tell you, I’ve spoken with many women and friends of mine and they have told me their stories that are not happy. He has been good to me because he has never misbehaved.

11

We go to him for help

Aracely DeLeón

12

Here families live close to each other, we pretty much all live together. He is my uncle, he’s the brother of my father-in-law. He is the oldest and we always go to him to ask for help because he has experienced a lot and can help us with our problems. Four years ago, my husband got drunk and left the house and we didn’t know where he went. So we went to my uncle to ask for help. He offered to help search for him. He gathered the Rural Officers and other people and went out to look for him. Finally, they found him in a place called Puerto Rico that is an hour and half from here.

Without my uncle’s help, I would not have found him.

When they returned with him, they wanted to put him in jail but my uncle paid the fine so that they wouldn’t.

He helped us with that and many other times.

Sacred animals

Right there are my savings. It’s very important to have money, and a cow means there is money. Even though it’s invested, the money is there, certain and fast. I have a lot of affection for these animals because they have been a part of my growth. Thanks to one of these cows that my dad gave me, I have my house.

Georgina Díaz

There is a tradition in my home to give each child a cow. But when I was single I ran away with my boyfriend and my parents did not approve. About three years passed, and they told me I couldn’t return to my house. I was living in Tuxtla and it was awful; unfortunately, I had made a mistake. I suffered through violence from my boyfriend, but because I had my son, I had to put up with it. But where was I going to go since I had no other place? My father said I had been wrong to leave, I had disobeyed and so I could not return home. He said he would not give me anything, that I had no right to anything.

But as the years passed, I had two more children and they were the ones who convinced my father. One day, one of my sons went to visit my family and from that day forward they forgave me. My family told me that I could return, but I was sad because they said they still would not give me anything, because of the mistake I had made. But actually, when I returned a few years later, my dad gave me my cow.

I was so excited. The cow became pregnant and its belly grew huge.

I sold the mother and kept the calf. With the cow I sold, I was able to buy a piece of land and another calf. Today, I have three cows, I have my house, and I have my land. For that reason these animals are extremely sacred to me. I plan to keep moving forward because even though sometimes it seems like there is nothing, there are moments when I look at all of these animals and feel enormous love.

13

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Photo by Guadalupe López

14 Photo by Marcela Pérez

Photo by Guadalupe López

Photo by Guadalupe López

Photo by Aristea Díaz

Photo by Georgina Díaz

Photo by Marcela Pérez

Photo by Aracely DeLeón

Photo by Marcela Pérez

Tortillas, tortillas, tortillas I wake up at four or five in the morning when my husband is going to work.

I go to the grinder and then I begin to make tortillas. Before when I lived with my parents-in-law, I used to make about one hundred or so, now I make just fifty or sixty for three meals.

-Aracely DeLeón It’s different in the city, there they buy tortillas, but here we make tortillas.

There they don’t even know how to use a press, it’s all purchased tortillas.

-Yadira Roblero I wake up at five in the morning to make tortillas. I make tortillas because we serve them for breakfast, we eat them with lunch, and they are our dinner too. Therefore, they are the most important food, so I make tortillas and I like to make tortillas.

-Damaris Díaz When I wake up I grind the dough and make tortillas to make breakfast for my children and husband who are going to work in the fields. I make tortillas at every meal, every day. I make many tortillas; countless.

-Mariela Díaz

Photo by Damaris Díaz

Photo by Mariela Díaz

Photo by Marcela Pérez

Photo by Damaris Díaz

Photo by Georgina Díaz

Photo by Mariela Díaz

Happiness in the house

Damaris DĂ­az

16

I really enjoyed taking this photo of the rose because the color called my attention. Red for many people expresses love, but I like the color red because it’s something very bright. I love flowers because they symbolize happiness in the house. Everyone who arrives at a house, the first thing they see are the flowers. A house without flowers shows that there are no people or that there is no one who takes care of the home, so by seeing the flowers they’ll say yes, there are people living here.

The only way forward

Mariela Díaz

It’s a coffee plant that is on our plot, on the land where my husband and my son work. It’s ours, no one else’s. From this coffee plant, I have to extract the product but it should be happy.

It needs to be clean; it can’t have weeds around it and it needs to have water so that it blooms. Later, the flower produces the fruit which then becomes the coffee. The coffee that grows, we depulp, we wash, we dry, and later we remove the shell. In order for the coffee to arrive to your cup, you have to toast it, grind it, and then brew the coffee. That is the end of the labor of the coffee.

It is important because if there was no coffee, there wouldn’t be a way to move forward. The coffee produces the money that allows our children to study. We sell the coffee so that they can continue with their studies. We can take out a loan from a bank, or with an organization, or with a trusted person and once the harvest arrives, we can sell the coffee to get the money to pay off the loan. That’s why the coffee plant is so important to me. My son and husband are the ones working in the coffee fields now because the other kids are off studying. However, during vacation they come back to work on the coffee, they weed, plant more coffee plants, and get rid of the shade casting trees. Coffee brings with it a lot of work.

17

That land is the future of my family, it is their heritage. Right now the fields are recently planted, but some day it is going to be the well-being of the family, well if god wants it. Meanwhile, if there is rain we’ll see production, and if not...in time God will say. That’s how it is.

The light of hope

Guadalupe López

It’s a nice sunset and a reflection of hope; today one day leaves but tomorrow a better one comes. This is the light that will never be forgotten, it always shines for us. To me, it’s the light of hope.

This is how I want my life to be from now on; bright, pretty, beautiful. At times I’ve had difficult moments, I’ve been sad.

Seeing how beautiful the world is, how beautiful it is out there, is my inspiration to keep doing my job, which is really lovely. We have the opportunity to see all of this. It’s a very beautiful stage in our lives where we can be aware that all of this surrounds us.

There are difficult moments in life, but I have moved past the ones in my life. My loved ones provide a lot of support, so I will keep moving forward. Not everything in life is sadness. I am a strong woman. I am going to continue on despite the things that have happened in my life, the problems and everything. This is my way of expressing that I can continue fighting in order to give my children a better future.

18

Breathing easy

Magdalena Gutiérrez

I like the landscape of my community because of the trees, the sky, and the clouds. I really like the nature of trees because here we breathe pure air. Here everything is natural. We are very isolated from the city. Here it’s called The Highlands because we are very far away. I like my community because of all of the scenic views and the nature that you don’t see in other places.

In the city all of the air is polluted and there is a lot of noise from the cars. It’s not the same as being in a good place like here. I like that the community is remote.

I have a daughter who lives in the capital city Tuxtla. When I go to see her, I have to stay a night and then return the following day, but it’s exhausting. We live in an area that is very high up. We don’t have anywhere else to go to or own another house far from here; it’s the only place for me. It’s a community where we don’t have people who are violent, or become aggressive, or do much theft. Nothing like that, thanks to God. But if you see someone who is bad or who is doing something bad in this community, you need to report it quickly. There is a house that you go to with problems where they appoint people to be captains, police officers, and rural agents. They go find the person that is doing something bad and catch him and put him in the jail. In this way, one can walk around without any trouble. Here, people are free, with the feeling of safety.

19

We used to wash by hand My washing machine is very important to me because it helps to wash clothes. It’s electric; before, I used to scrub clothes clean by hand. Now it is easier because I have the washer, and I just put all the clothes in there.

Back when I washed by hand, it would take me one or two hours. Now it takes fifteen or twenty minutes. It’s quite a big help and now I don’t get tired. Washing clothes is a job I do almost every day and now the machine does it all. All I have to do is take out the clothes and rinse out the soap.

-Yadira Roblero

Before, I had to wash the dirty clothes every single day. I would wash them by hand, wring them by hand, and hang them by hand. It was difficult to get rid of the stains in the white clothes, black and blues clothes were easier. A little while ago my husband gave me a washing machine and that changed things a lot. Now, I can gather the dirty clothes every three days to wash them in the machine. I just have to add soap and let it wash and wring the clothes by itself and they come out cleaner.

-Elizabeth Vázquez

20

Photo by Yadira Roblero

Photo by Damaris Díaz

Photo by Georgina Díaz

Photo by Marcela Pérez

Photo by Magdalena Gutiérrez

Photo by Georgina Díaz

UNITED OR DIVIDED

Photo by Mariela Díaz

21 Photo by Aristea Díaz

Photo by Damaris Díaz

Photo by Beatriz Pérez

Photo by Aristea Díaz

Photo by Marcela Pérez

Photo by Eudeli Velázquez

Photo by Magdalena Gutiérrez

Photo by Elizabeth Vázquez

Part of the community

Eudeli VelĂĄzquez

22

I feel part of the community. My responsibilities are to always keep it clean and support any project there is.

There is the park, the gazebo, and the black stuff you see is coffee. Every two months we get together to tidy up the park so that it looks clean, healthy and so that this is a clean community. It used it be every week, but now that there are a lot of us women they call upon us every two months. When there are meetings to request something, for example if they want to fix the streets or the water, they ask our opinions. Since we are able to give our opinions, I feel that’s how we form part of the community.

Politics are ugly

Marcela Pérez

In this community, politics is one of the reasons why people are divided. For example, there was a woman who just passed away and in her family there are many sisters. Some sisters supported the Verde party and some supported Chiapas Unido. So, the moment the woman died and the sisters supporting Verde entered, the sisters supporting Chiapas Unidos left. So there is a lot of division between people, and politics provokes it. I don’t like politics because it causes divisions in families. They look for what benefits themselves and they don’t think about the rest. They think solely about how to acquire profits for themselves, but never about how to help others. It is ugly.

Politics splits the community in two, but those of us who are Jehovah’s Witnesses are united because we don’t belong to any political party.

We don’t support any of the parties so we are united because we don’t vote for any bad government. Our church gatherings are the only place where people are united and do things together. Religion is very important to me because it joins us like family. To serve God makes us happy. My family does it together.

Our work is to teach other people how to study the Bible, because for some it is very difficult to understand. We go to church to learn and then we teach everyone else. What we like to do is to go out and teach people. There are many people that are sick and we try to help them with the Bible. We give them comfort and hope. It relates to my work as a community health worker, because similarly I go out and it’s a way of helping people to be in control.

23

The gossiper

Aristea Díaz

This portable radio is a form of instant communication we use for whatever reason. Sometimes you have relatives who live far away and you can communicate with them by radio. There is no cell service yet, we don’t have a cell tower so that’s why we can’t communicate with cell phones. I don’t know exactly how far the radio signal can reach but in general we can talk with nine communities from here by radio.

The communities are numbered one through ten and to call one you just need to know the number. When you want to communicate with someone you need to use their handle. You can choose whatever name you would like, it’s your decision. My handle is Happy Heart, so when you have something to say to me you need to call me by my handle. I talk mostly with Little Gift who lives up there. Other handles around here are Blessing, Cactus, and Capricorn.

Once you connect with someone you need to change to a different channel because since everyone has a radio, and all the radios are the same, everyone will hear what you say. So you need to change to a private channel but the problem is that some people then change their radio to the same channel to listen in. Imagine, you want to say some things, one-on-one, to someone and then everyone gossips about it. Whatever it is you said, someone tells someone and in a little bit everyone knows. That’s why the people call the radio “The Gossiper”. It seems like you were talking in secret but soon another person will arrive at your channel and then tell someone else. Then they will tell another person and another like a chain and in the end everyone knows. Well, that’s how communication is. It’s good that everyone knows if something is going to happen in order to be organized for whatever reason. Whatever little thing comes up, it will be known by all.

24

Religion and politics

Georgina Díaz

Politics is one of the reasons why the community becomes divided.

Sometimes one neighborhood supports one party, and another neighborhood another. Then they divide and hold their meetings separately. The community is in three groups because there are three political parties. It causes conflicts between friends and between neighbors and sometimes results in disputes and arguments. In the last few years, politics have been taken more seriously, but it wasn’t always so. You can see even after the political season passes, people remain divided and fighting each other. The president that wins helps only those who voted for him, but not those who didn’t.

Aside from politics, religion is another thing that divides our community. Those that practice a religion don’t mix with those who don’t. They preach, but they don’t mix. There are Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostals, and Adventists here in this community. They are divided by religion. For example, the Pentecostals don’t do anything with Jehovah’s Witnesses. They don’t preach to each other or anything.

You can also say there are divisions within their own religions. For example, the Pentecostals are similarly divided; they have two separate churches. But I think religion is a great help as well because the majority of the community is Jehovah’s Witness and they are very calm. They don’t get involved in problems or politics; they are more isolated. When you need help from them, they are there to support you. Among themselves they are very united, but only among themselves. You have to be part of the same religion. They don’t mix at parties or dances. They don’t celebrate any type of occasion. In contrast, those of us who are not religious, we always go dance.

25

Brings us together

Mariela DĂ­az

26

These are banana leaves that we use to make tamales.

We make tamales when we feel like eating them or to sell. But also we make tamales for special occasions like a farewell party or Christmas. We make chicken tamales and wrap them in these leaves. Tamales unite the whole community. For example, to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 24th the Catholics will go get many of these leaves. They gather together and make enough tamales for the entire community, maybe 600 or even up to 1,000 tamales for all of those visiting as well. We use these leaves to make tamales, to make parties, that’s how these leaves bring the community together.

STORIES OF THE SIERRA

Photo by Yadira Roblero

27 Photo by Mariela Díaz

Photo by Marcela Pérez

Photo by Mariela Díaz

Photo by Marcela Pérez

Photo by Guadalupe López

Photo by Guadalupe López

Photo by Guadalupe López

Photo by Elizabeth Vázquez

Without learning a thing

Mariela Díaz

I went to school in a town that is very far from here. Walking, it took maybe five hours to get there. Every day I used to walk there with my brother. We would leave in between the light and the dark of the early morning to arrive at school at eight. The school was so far we often didn’t feel like going, so we learned very little. Later, during the rainy season, it was difficult. There was a big river and we crossed the river on a wooden bridge that my father built. We had to cross this big river on these little pieces of wood. We risked our lives, it was very complicated. If we arrived to school at eight o’clock sharp or ten minutes past, the school was already closed. The teacher would not open the door to let us in because we did not arrive on time. We had to return home without learning a single thing. Our life was grave.

So that’s why I tell my children to take advantage of the school that is right in front of their noses. Their school is very close, really very close.

The primary school is two minutes away and the secondary is just ten minutes. They are very close. I liked school, but because I was the oldest daughter, I had to help my mom with chores and it didn’t leave me time to study what they taught us in school. At school I would do homework, but at home there was no place for homework. We had to help my mom herd the sheep and make tortillas for dinner. We arrived home from school late, around four or five in the afternoon and it didn’t give us time to study. My brother and I decided that we would not continue going to school. But now I am back in school; I am in the school for adults.

28

My children went to school. They already went to the secondary school here, then high school, and then they decided to continue studying at a university. I am very proud that my children now have what I could not have.

Fighting for their lives

Beatriz Pérez

They are from Guatemala. They come to find work because Guatemala is poor. It’s not like it is here, over there. Here we grow coffee, we grow many crops but in contrast there they don’t. So, they leave to look for work for the wellbeing of their families, to provide for their children, their wives, and their mothers. They come to find food, they come fighting for their lives, more than anything they come fighting so that their families don’t suffer. Their lives are hard. At times it makes me think, why are there places where people find work and places where there is none?

I have seen several times the people from Guatemala asking for help, they ask for ten pesos because they don’t have money for food.

Perhaps they need a refuge here. When they come here we give them free food, and if they didn’t bring a blanket, we give them one. They thank us and feel happy in this place. It seems to me to be a tragedy to leave your home for other places, to suffer sometimes of hunger and sometimes of thirst.

29

My husband went to the hill because we have coffee plants there. He told me that there was an old Guatemalan man carrying a big load.

When he reached the top of the hill, he couldn’t keep going anymore.

The old man told my husband, “Brother, I can’t bare it anymore, I’m very hungry and so thirsty it’s killing me.” Since my husband was carrying food with him, he told the man, “Put down your load, I brought food and drink”. They sat there on the hill and he gave his food to the old man and he ate it all. He was very thankful. He told my husband, “Thank you, we are brothers. I was in a dark place and I didn’t think I could keep going anymore.” Well, they work here during the coffee harvest season and then they search for more work. It’s no joy to live like that.

We all help each other

Many years ago the river flooded. It carried away all of the trees that were on the riverbank. This tree called my attention because it is the only one that remains. The water swept away all of them, but this one stayed.

Marcela Pérez

It began to rain. For four or five days it rained all day and all night.

Our fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses came and warned us that we needed to leave because the river was rising very quickly, and we live on the riverbank. So we grabbed our things and left to find a place that wasn’t in danger. However, we lost our appliances.

For example, we lost our refrigerator. It doesn’t work anymore because of the water.

Some people went to the schools to escape the rising water. It wasn’t just me, many families had to leave. We went to my aunt’s house. Some gathered at the school, others at the church. Those that were not in danger and didn’t have to leave their homes gave us food and coffee because we couldn’t return to our houses to cook anything. When something like this happens, it’s our fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses who support us. They came to help carry our things, they gave us shelter, they gave us food, and my daughter was very young then, so they helped with the diapers. We were there for two days and when the danger passed, we returned home. There are other religions here. There are Pentecostals and Catholics, but it’s all the same. In moments like that, we all help each other.

30

We had to walk

Elizabeth VĂĄzquez

Before the road was very different. It was a dirt path that you could only use walking or on a donkey. It would take six hours to walk to Jaltenango for example. When Hurricane Stan came in October ten years ago there was no road and my father-in-law was sick. There were no roads or cars to quickly bring him to the hospital in Jaltenango. Back then one would need to leave on foot with a donkey and if you got lucky, you might come across a car on the way that would give you a lift. But the trip would be costly.

Now there is a road to go to Jaltenango and Siltepec that you can use a car or motorcycle. Now it takes two hours to get to Jaltenango, four hours less than before. Also, now it’s easier to get to the hospital if someone is sick or if there is an emergency.

You just pay someone to drive you in their car or use the trucks that leave on a schedule and arrive at the hospital quickly.

In comparison to before, life is easier now and I feel more connected to the world.

31

To learn more plese visit www.companerosensalud.mx (Mexico) www.pihcanda.org (Canada) www.pih.org (International)