What a whirlwind of a week

Welcome to my newly created blog! (Check out my profile for a description of my Burch Fellowship experience.) I only have about a month left in Mexico, but I decided better late than never with the blog. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy! Or as they say in Spanish "Disfruta!"

I'm currently located in Celaya, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. I'm living with a wonderful family affiliated with the local Rotary Club, who lives on a ranch outside of the city that has over 1000 roosters ("gallos"), 4 horses, and over 100 sheep. I love living here and am slowly getting used to the 5AM wake-up calls of 1000 roosters...

My time here in Mexico is turning out to be more than I ever imagined. I spent the day today going on house calls to check on malnourished toddlers, urge their families to regularly take them to the free health clinic, and inform them of our food bank service. Five of us (including one nutritionist, 3 social workers, and me, the gringa) drove to remote ranchos in search of families who missed appointments. I've realized that the majority of Celaya's migrants come from these ranchos-- men here are few and far between, leaving their families to go to "el Norte". They are desperately poor, with high rates of teen pregnancy, and little sources of income other than remittances from family in the US.

So, anyway, I've had two experiences this week that really affected me. I'll start with the exciting one. I went to interview a woman about her perspective on her husband's migration to North Carolina, only knowing that he was somewhere in NC. After turning on the video camera, I started asking all the basic demographic questions. It turns out, of all the people migrating to North Carolina, her husband works in the kitchen at Top of the Hill....and I recognized him in the pictures she had!! She then called in her sister-in-law whose husband also works at our beloved Top-O. I was so amazed, I just kept repeating "No lo puedo creer!" (I can't believe it!). I never expected that coming here would literally hit so close to home.

The second powerful experience affected me in a much different manner. Yesterday I spent the morning at a maternal health clinic, where they deliver babies and give pregnancy checkups for reduced cost. While I was there, a baby was born one month premature that was 1.5 kilos (that's about 3 pounds). The mother has smoked during the pregnancy and only come in for one prenatal care visit. I saw this baby, about 15 minutes old, which looked more like a baby bird than anything human. She was anemic and had a slew of other problems and was promptly transferred to the incubator. The doctor had to put an IV in her tiny little hand with a needle that was too big...watching this was just too much for me and I'm embarrassed to admit that I almost fainted and had to leave the room.

While I felt off-kilter for the rest of the day, I did know inside that what I saw, not matter how upsetting, was an important experience that I will learn from and carry with me.

More to come, for now I'm off to the city of Queretaro to help my host sister move into her new apartment.