Water water

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Water is back, halleluiah! We took shower early in the morning in case it decided to leave us again later in the afternoon.  I feel like a new woman with brushed teeth and a smell of clean on my body.  Aunt Mar and can’t wait to go outside the house again and see daylight outside of the house walls.  Grandparents’ house is big compared to the houses in the areas and is over 100 years old.  It beauty is mesmerizing and one can get lost just looking at all the intricacies of the place but sometimes its nice to walk the streets of the city and just watch it live in front of you.  My aunt is over 90% blind and although she can see some colors and shadows I must help her navigate the streets and the people on them.  She makes me think of my brother who suffers from the same fate as my aunt and although he hasn’t reached the severity of her blindness he will someday soon and I hope for him he has medical care.  One of the tough things that come about as a result of being undocumented is the lack of medical care.  Brother was almost a teenager when his blindness was diagnosed and it was due to a severe ear infection that it was even caught.  I remember the horrible pain he was in when the ear infection invaded his body.  With out medical care his ear and the side of his face were swollen to the point of deformation.  Mom and dad suffered while they saw his pain and at the thought of not being able to do anything for their son.  Around the same time a flyer reached our door step “Taiz Chi Medical Clinic” was coming to town and it would set up shop down the street from our house. 

The traveling medical clinic consisted of doctors, dentists, nurses and other medical professionals who as a result of their Buddhist beliefs had to donate some of their time to help those who needed it.  Lucky Farms, a local business was the sponsor and I will never forget the lines and lines of people who were there early in the morning in hopes of being seen by a doctor.  I was 15 when I remember my eyes watering up at the sight of so many people in need.  The U.S. is supposed to be a first world country with benefits unheard of in others and here they were, the tiered, hungry, poor and the middle class all waiting for the chance to get some aid.  We were only in line for an hour or two when someone noticed my brothers face and moved him to the front of the line.  The doctors took one look at him and I had to translate that they might have to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital.  My parents were scared; they didn’t want to go to the hospital because if he was treated there surely they would know we were illegal and call the police.  My parents begged me to ask the doctors for another alternative and with hesitation the doctors cleaned his ear and gave him medication for the infection and for the pain. Almost immediately brother felt better.  They would not let us leave with out having seen all the other stations, the dentist and the eye doctor followed.  It was there that a doctor noticed the odd shape in brothers’ cornea and retina and began to look at it further.  I remember the look of horror as the doctor asked me to translate that my brother would soon go blind.  His only options were a lengthy and experimental surgery or an eye transplant.  Mom and dad were sad to hear that their little boy had gone unnoticed and untreated for so long, but being treated would have to wait longer.  There in a parking lot under make shift tents brother was told he would one day soon loose his ability to see.  I’d like to think brother was strong that day but the days, months and years that followed proved otherwise.  Since then I have returned every year to that traveling clinic and have volunteered my time and translating services to ensure that the English speaking doctors could communicated with their mostly Spanish speaking patients.  That was over 15 years ago and I hope someday I can continue to help them like they helped my brother.