Gandhi said that poverty was the worst form of violence.
The last couple of weeks have brought it to a forefront for us. If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter then you know that people we know and love have suffered from hardships…even more than usual.
Martha Arriaza from Guitarra Madera Azul, a family group that writes, sings, and performs music (for our delegations as well as concerts around the country), has been in the hospital. She has uterine fibroid tumors that began to block her urethra, causing kidney problems. At one of the public hospitals they “poked” her kidney when trying to drain them. Her husband Luís took her to another public hospital where our Coury interns, and they drained the contusion of one liter of blood. After two weeks she is going home, but will need to remain in outpatient care…we are lending a bed and wheelchair for her until she is strong. Would all this have happened if she had not been poor? It might have, but probably not. Two years ago she suffered for nearly a year with gall bladder problems waiting for an operation, and now she waits to find out about the tumors.
Pedro Mayorga, who works for us in the construction part of our work, and has worked with our delegations since the time the clinic was being built…his son Nilton was killed Sunday night….brutally killed. They all live in Nueva Vida and there are gangs in Nueva Vida. Nilton was brutally beaten to death. Pedro and his wife, Blanca, were with him when he died. Dr. Ávila, who works at our clinic, tended to him in the Ciudad Sandino clinic. Nilton left a wife with a one-year old and a two-month old baby. He was 18 years old.
I am not saying that wealth shields people from heartache, malpractice, violence…but wealth does protect. AND I am not saying that health for all people insures bad care…but in a country that does not have the money it needs to fund health care, it is difficult (if Martha or Nilton depended on private care system, they both would have suffered even more greatly because they do not/did not have the money to pay for it).
If doctors do not have the training, the equipment, the medicines they need, then it is likely that patients suffer. Poverty is the reason. Poverty is the reason Martha suffers from treatable and preventable ailments.
Gangs form around poverty. They form around the need to belong, the need to be in control, the need to lash out, the need to make money through drugs, the need to escape through drugs…these are reasons gangs form. Poverty and lack of hope are the fundamental reasons gangs form. And where there are gangs, brutal violence is a part of life.
Gandhi was right. – Kathleen
For those of you who have met Martha, send her and her family messages on Facebook. You can send messages to Pedro and his family through us at becca@jhc-cdca.org
