Into El Campo

In the past couple of weeks, I have had two opportunities to go into the Zapatista communities (‘partes de la resistencia’ as Aurora, Gregorio’s wife fervently calls them). The first time was with Gregorio, an older Mexican doctor who speaks with a well annunciated deep voice. He and his wife, Aurora, had lived in Guatemala for years and had only returned in the last 4 years to work with the Zapatistas. Gregorio oversees the medical clinics in three of the Zapatista municipals while Juan Manuel oversees another three. That day we going to one town to help the health promoters (promotores) give vaccinations. We left at 7 am in Gregorio’s double bench pick-up because we had to get the vaccines from Ocosingo. As much as the Zapatistas try to stay separate from the Mexican government, they still take their health supplies from them. Historically, this should be of no surprise. For example, the only official relationship the stolid Soviet Union had with Europe after the First World War was through their health department’s infectious disease offices as well.

Ocosingo is 30 minutes from Altamirano, but the journey took us longer because every time they saw someone walking or looking for a ride, we would stop and offer that person or that person’s entire family to climb in. We went from 3 people to 4…7…10…12 people before long. Before long, however, but definitely after the need to exhale had passed, the vaccines, in picnic coolers with ice packs, were loaded in back and we had left the paved road for a dirt one and had arrived in a small town of spread out houses, grass fields, and the small clinic which in most of these Zapatista towns is always the exact size of a hotdog and french-fry stand at a baseball game. One of the Promotores brought out the megaphone and announced that, although we already had half a dozen kids in our truck, vaccines were being done for the remainder of the town’s children. Mothers with 2-4 kids ambled in through the grass fence and lined up to hand us their vaccination cards. Aurora had left to do consults somewhere else (she practices homeopathic medicine). Gregorio had wanted the promotores to do all of the vaccinating because we were there to help them, so I helped him do the registrations.

They receive the same vaccinations we do and use the Sabin Polio vaccine. (Recall that after a huge medical feud and a long hatred between Salk and Sabin, we now have two forms of polio vaccines, Salk’s dead polio and Sabin’s live inactivated. In the states we used Salk intramuscular shot because there is always the fear that some of the live, inactivated may not be fully inactivated and every once in a while someone with the vaccine comes down with polio (1 in 2.5 million). But then again, Salk’s form does not create quite the same immune reaction and there is the possibility that it does not last as long as Sabin’s. Not to mention which, Salk´s is an injection versus Sabin´s oral drops. Needless to say, Salk and Sabin hated each other and we have two vaccines.)
About 30 kids received some vaccine or another in their butts or arms or mouths according to what our records and their papers said they needed. Afterwards, the three of us did a few consults and ate a quick beans and tortilla lunch.

Consults without labs is interesting. Clearly not everyone needs lab tests. There are certain ailments for example, for which there is no great lab test. Surely for gastritis or acid reflux, we could do an H.Pylori test and an endoscopic exam with biopsy of the stomach lining, but not even in the states do we go that far. I diagnosed a urinary tract infection and an umbilical herniation, neither of which really need lab tests but knowing that we cannot do them anyway, feels like working on a high wire without a net below. Since the clinic did not have enough medicines, Aurora opened up her treasure chest of homeopathic liquids and poured 3-4 drops of something over a few pellets of electrolyte salts. I thought we should say a quick prayer as well to double our chances of cure but I did not say as much. There are many strange forms of medicine out there that work in more than just the 33% of the population who enjoys the effects of sugar water (placebo effect) than we understand.

After we cleared out of that town, we came to another, smaller village where there were no roads and hiked in, taking turns carrying the ice box and homeopathic treasure chest. Fifteen minutes into the hike, after one creek and two hills we arrived at a picnic table and set up shop once again, after Aurora made sure everyone was parte de la resistencia. After vaccines, we did a few more consults – including one child with Scabies who received more electrolyte pellets and mysterious liquids. They served us another lunch, which consisted of chicken-based soup and lemonade and watched us as we ate it. It was probably more food than they ever eat in one setting and although the woman who served us had dipped her very dirty fingers in every glass and we did not know where the water came from in the lemonade, and I was sure I was going to be sick we ate it all. And I did not get sick.

Kids Find Out They Are About to Receive Shots!

Another two weeks passed before I went back to the community, this time with Juan Manuel, a Mexican doctor from Aculpulco who served down in El Salvador for years before moving up here to help the Zapatistas about 10 years ago. A tall man with a straight mustache, deep eyes like a bull (one eye that does not work), and a quick smile, Juan Manuel enjoys lecturing on the difficulties of the people. Although he is the first one to say he is not a Zapatista, he helps their health promoters fight for what they believe in. We left on a rainy morning and headed into by collective up to Ocosingo and then waited for a car to take us to 1 de Enero, the community in which he was going to stay for three days to teach Promotores from different parts of the same Municipal.

Like many Zapatista towns, the buildings are covered with colorful murals of Commandante Marcos and Che Guevera and colorful landscapes. In the small clinic, we were met by 10 young men and 3 women with smiles and handshakes. After we shake everyone’s hands Juan introduces me and they all clap. It felt good to be there and we started right in on talking about the importance of Vitamin A for children. Tzeltal is their native language and Juan Manuel tries to speak it to the extent of his knowledge which is quite impressive (and gives me the freedom to leave the room and explore the town because I don’t understand a word they are saying). When the children saw me taking pictures, they ran up to me. I had one follower initially, but they quickly grew and before long I had an entire class of at least 25 kids around me. They were fascinated by the camera and made a game out of hiding from its view. They would surround me and when I went to press the button hide behind trees and buildings. That was, at least, until one of the teachers came out and yelled at them for leaving his classroom without persmission.

At night we had a discussion about organic coffee production, which the head promotore, Juan, has just started doing. The coffee bean season has just begun all over Chiapas and as an important source of income it is a major topic of discussion. One person can pick nearly 25 kilograms of coffee beans in one day. The organic crops in collectives pay better than the non-organic ones.

All the health promotores have second jobs to support their families. They work as health workers out of interest and out of their own passion. They have a deep desire for what they do, but their capability is hindered by their lack of education, inability often to do multiplication for drug doses and no formal health education. What they have is what people like Juan Manuel can offer them and what they can read from Where There Is No Doctor, their textbook. They know plant medicine very well, however, and use that whenever they can as a supplement to or instead of manufactured medicines for pain or to treat symptoms of an infection.

The Outback Medical bible

When the night wore through and the candles were already low, we put tables and benches together to make beds. I had my sleeping bag and pad but still slept poorly owing to the flickering candlelight, the relentless mosquitoes and ants. At one point I woke up and my lower lip had a knot in it from my biting it I think. In the morning, when we got up at 6am, my right eye was swollen nearly shut. I presumed I was stung by something and I cursed myself for probably looking so feo on the day before my Ines arrives. Fortunately, by midday it was entirely gone. We had started classes at 6:30 am and I stayed until 9:30. Then I said my goodbye’s, thanked Juan Manuel for the experience and headed out to the edge of the community to wait for a truck to ride into Ocosingo.

In the truck I met a young man who said he worked for Mexico’s only gas company. He leaned forward and told me “I carry cocaine.” I did not know if he expected me to buy some or just that he had to tell someone. I told him it was very dangerous and I suggested he not use it. He agreed that he does not use it, he only takes it from the Chiapas border – where it arrives from Colombia – to Ocosingo where someone else takes it up Baja California to the United States. I asked him how much it pays and he said two dollars. I do not know if that is per kilo or per delivery. So I told him it’s not worth swallowing and he agreed saying that he just wears it around his waist. He asked me if I pass through Ocosingo occasionally. I said I did and he promised to look for me. You can try, I thought, hoping I never see him again!

I am now in San Cristobal, staying in one of the regular 10 dollar hotels while I wait for Ines. Tomorrow afternoon my luxurious vacation begins. Nice hotels and food are not something that either of us needs, but I think it will be worth it.

I leave you with an image from the day after the Day of the Dead, November 2, a very special day here during which family members visit their deceased relatives in the cemetary and leave them flowers, foods, and things they liked when they were alive.

Next post on ´Problems with Authority -- la cuenta de mi vida!´ And why I am leaving for Amatan at the end of this month.... For now, 8 days with Ines and all the treats my family sent down with her --- thanks Mathew, Mom, and Dad!