ALUMNI
D.O.s and international medicine He was about 13 years old, but his stature reflected that of a 9 year old. Alfredo (name changed) befriended our medical team hoping to escape the clutches of his local gang. To break away from the gang was a death sentence, but where can an ex-gang member find refuge?
desire to start a new life. Throughout the week of seeing many patients in the community, as well as the local prison, we had three policemen wielding AK-47s guarding us at all times. They were there to protect us from violence or kidnapping and never left our side as we saw patient after patient each day. We also provided the guards personal medical care for which they expressed their appreciation. They knew Alfredo had befriended us and was shadowing us during our stay. He
I was part of a medical team providing
was granted permission to remain at the
medical services in a community in Tela on
mission site for the night where the guards
the northern coast of Honduras. I was the
were also encamped.
only D.O. among several M.D.s, medical students, nurses, pharmacists and ancillary volunteers. As our bus crested a hill among the banana plantation fields, seven bodies were lined up on the side of the road slain by a small army of armed policemen. We were the first to arrive on the scene and just minutes away from being in the middle of a shootout between law enforcement and the drug cartel. Welcome to Tela and the beginning of our medical mission experience. Alfredo and his father were abandoned by his mother when he was about 5 years old. He and his father were homeless, living on the streets. Soon after, his father abandoned him also, leaving Alfredo to wander the streets alone, eating out of garbage cans. Joining a local street gang seemed to be his only hope for survival. Branding with the gang’s tattoos was a required ritual to demonstrate his loyalty to his new found “family.” Death would be the only way to sever the relationship and the tattoos, which he attempted to hide, as they were permanent reminders of whom he owed his allegiance.
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we could to help him in his expressed
However, while Alfredo was sleeping at the compound and presumed to be safe, the guards kidnapped him because of his tattoos and gang association. They did not arrest him or file criminal charges against him. His gang was their enemy and his desire for a life change made no difference to them. During the night they hung him by his arms from the rafters of their bunkhouse, stripped him and tortured him with beatings and cigarette burns to his body. It did not matter that he was our friend. Once Alfredo re-joined us the following day and we saw the extent of his injuries, we provided him medical care. There was no Social Service program to which to refer him and local church leaders advised against entrusting him to the care of local law enforcement. He asked us to help him escape to a safer haven so he could begin a new and more promising life — a life away from the gangs and away from the local police. We arranged for him to move to the capital city of Tegucigalpa where he would be sponsored by a local pastor’s family, attend a private school with tutoring
He sought us for assistance. Our group
and receive counseling. We knew this
welcomed him and wanted to do anything
may be a difficult transition for him, but
WVSOM MAGAZINE
•
SUMMER 2013
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Dr. Holstein is a board certified family physician residing with his wife, Jean, in Inverness, Fla. He is in private practice and participates in short-term medical missions nationally and internationally.
