Determination of Health Workers
Translation from Portuguese.
“It is incredible how we can live so close to poverty and not have the faintest idea what it is really like (to live this way). And worse, we think we know all about it! At the least, I thought I understood something (about poverty) but now (after this visit to the Canal do Anil shanty town clinic), I know I didn’t have the slightest idea what real poverty was all about. Not until I entered those homes, those tiny, crowded cubiculos, where a wall of unfinished brick was a luxury! Children playing in the midst of garbage, between puddles and holes filled with dirty rainwater, and rats.
Translation from Portuguese.
“It is incredible how we can live so close to poverty and not have the faintest idea what it is really like (to live this way). And worse, we think we know all about it! At the least, I thought I understood something (about poverty) but now (after this visit to the Canal do Anil shanty town clinic), I know I didn’t have the slightest idea what real poverty was all about. Not until I entered those homes, those tiny, crowded cubiculos, where a wall of unfinished brick was a luxury! Children playing in the midst of garbage, between puddles and holes filled with dirty rainwater, and rats.
But on the other hand I met such strong women, with enviable determination! Women who are not doctors, the majority of them don’t even have a full grammar school education, BUT they have something else, very special: the ability to really take care of people! Medical workers who do their work in a most poetic, loving way in spite of their (educational) limitations. Each one of these women is indispensable to this health program no matter what function they are exercising. They are admirable (women). I thank you, dear teachers, wonderful health workers, I met (in the Canal do Anil shanty town clinic).”
Paulinha Vargas, 4th year medical student
Shared by,
Barb and Gus de Souza
Barb de Souza is a volunteer with the Institute of Religious Studies (ISER). She serves as an advisor for popular education and training in the areas of health and sexuality.