There is little I can add to the wonderful and extensive descriptions that Cathy sent regarding our day to day activities. I am still trying to process all we did and the experience as a whole. The adult patients I saw had many of the chronic conditions I see in the US but at an earlier age and with none of the resources that are available even to the poorest in this country. The women seemed especially beaten down by their lives …..numerous pregnancies (not unusual to have as many as 7 to 10 and up to 16,)the burden of trying to care for these children and manage a home while cooking, farming, carrying wood etc. The people themselves are warm and caring with beautiful kind faces. The lack of any basic education is very apparent as when trying to fit adults with glasses while most could not read. Through out the time I continued to question how much I was really adding to their health care and could only repeat to myself that I could only offer them compassion and care but not cure. Clearly the work Cathy is doing to bring them water and therefore sustainable gardens is some hope at least for their improved nutrition.
As an aside while there during my down time (mostly waiting for flights) I read The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace. It is the story of an African American young man raised in the drug infested city of Newark New Jersey and his attempt to rise above his circumstance. It occurred to me that so much of our life is determined by chance….where we were born and who raised us. Although Newark is very different from San Marcos, the struggle to rise above our circumstances and create our own destiny is not so easy.
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