Graduation day: speeches, gowns, and tassels. Most of us have had some experience of the sort. However, I would not do justice to the graduation at CASA today by describing these things seen at nearly every graduation. Sure, there were flowers, pomp, and circumstance, but something much more profound underlay the entire occasion.

The ten CASA midwifery school graduates began their day at 8 A.M. in the pews of La Iglesia del Oratorio. Joined by a few of their teachers, they attended morning mass and received a special blessing for the challenges they have overcome in school and the challenges lying ahead in their careers as midwives. The overwhelming pride felt by the girls and their families was obvious from the beginning: at any given moment, the church would filled with camera flashes, and all the attendees sported smiles from ear to ear.

After mass, the girls returned to their dormitories on CASA grounds to get ready. The excitement buzzing through their living quarters mounted as each one slipped a graduation gown over their favorite dress and fit a cap perfectly on their head. As 10 o’clock neared and they moved outside to take pictures with friends and family, the girls’ joy became nearly uncontainable. Giggles erupted from smiles as the girls posed for a line of cameras, their very own paparazzi.

When the hour finally arrived, the ten girls—CASA’s largest graduating class—filed onto the stage to enjoy their moment of glory. Following several speeches from faculty of CASA, each graduate had the opportunity to address the audience, composed of younger students, other CASA workers, previous graduates, and plenty of thrilled relatives. The importance of this day shone through as each one spoke, thanking CASA and their loved ones for the opportunity and support to advance in a direction that may not have been possible without them. In many cases, their pride, excitement, gratefulness, and anxiety surmounted to tears as they struggled over words that fully expressed their gratitude for that moment.

Each girl received her diploma and a turn of her tassel with a genuine smile and eyes that revealed the deep contentment felt upon earning one of the best gifts of all—a quality education, a respected career, and the chance to have a profound impact on the lives of many.

During one of our last days in San Miguel, we followed Lucy, one of the graduates from CASA’s School of Professional Midwifery, as she attended morning mass and the commencement ceremony with the rest of her graduating class.

Upon graduation from CASA’s School of Professional Midwifery, Xochitl Ferman Flores returned to her hometown of Gabino Barreda and opened up her own professional midwifery practice, hoping to improve reproductive health in the area. This video follows Xochitl and one of her patients through the consultation process.

To read more about our experience with Xochitl, read Bri’s Day 18 journal.

After five weeks in Mexico, familiarizing myself with new faces and Spanish phrases, I have fallen into that phase of reverse-culture shock that often follows long travels. Flying over the city of Houston, I noticed the great difference in appearance between the U.S. and Mexico as thin strings of two-lane roads morphed in to wide freeways housing a steady stream of automobiles and small, scattered homes turned into massive webs of suburbia.

When I stepped off the plane, my shock continued as I noticed all of the luxuries that one rarely considers: water fountains flowing freely with cool, pure water, moving sidewalks that prevent you from overexerting yourself for 50 feet, air conditioning.

While taking a breather on one of those moving sidewalks, I considered again a thought that had been plaguing me the entire day of travel—how I am going to answer the question I will undoubtedly be asked:

“So, how was your trip?”

It is impossible to sum up my experiences in Mexico in a single blog entry or even words in general. What events do I choose to tell in order to accurately depict the past month and a half? Do I describe my view from the front of CASA’s old VW van on our trips through the countryside on the way to rural villages? The children’s amazement when we showed them their image on the tiny screen of the video camera? The way Doña Antonia and Nohemi spoke so passionately about the importance and difficulties of being a midwife? Or do I speak about the genuine pride that exuded from the midwifery students on their graduation day?

Just as likely I will be asked,

“What was CASA like? What do they do?” just as I have been asking interviewee’s for the past few weeks. And just as they have always hesitated not knowing what words justify CASA’s programs, I too hesitated after being asked this very question.

“Well…” I said, and then paused, trying to explain an expanse of programs into one sentence. I pushed out some sort of answer about adolescents and education and immediately recognized it was insufficient.

The truth is, CASA has expanded into a diverse organization, starting programs in a number of areas as it has become aware of developing needs. In this way, CASA recognizes the interconnectedness of social issues, and that real progress can only be made through combining work in various fields.

-Briana

Photo by Caitlyn

I open my mouth, yawn, and wiggle my jaw. Not yet. Again, I yawn, wiggle my jaw, and swallow—anything to rid myself of the strange discomfort in my ears. There it is—my ears pop.

Looking outside the window I see the culprit. Surrounding the van are enormous, black, rounded mountains with deep valleys in between. The sudden changes in altitude do a number on my ears, and the winding mountain roads knock my drowsy head against the window upon every turn. Sleep would be nice, but for now it is a distant dream. Instead, I am left to write in my journal.

The car jolts into the left lane and passes the car in front of us, missing the oncoming headlights by what seems to be no more than a couple of feet. Beside me, Caitlyn is awoken by the sudden action, groggily looks around, and settles herself back into (what I guess you could call) sleeping position. The driver, don Javier, is accustomed to this driving etiquette and continues down the road, unfazed by the close call.

The intermittent headlights to the left are a splash of light in these black surroundings. The land is sparsely populated—I could count the number of lights I see on my hands. In a rare moment for me, I can see more light in the sky than I do on the ground. It is as though the sky and earth of home have switched places.

It is 12:30 a.m. and roughly 3 hours remain of our return from our second cross-country trip of the week. Today’s destination was Tlamacazapa, an indigenous community of about 6,000 inhabitants perched on a lush hillside in Guerrero, Mexico. We traveled to see Nohami, a graduate of CASA’s midwifery school who had returned to her hometown in order to help the local women. Nohami practices out of what seemed to be a central gathering point for the community. The inside was painted a cheerful teal, and separated into four parts: a waiting room, a kitchen, a sewing room and Nohami’s clinic. In the sewing room, local women learn how to make quilts to sell, and the waiting room also serves as a classroom from Wednesday to Friday.

While waiting outside the clinic for a meeting with Nohami, Caitlyn and I met Robbie, a recent graduate of the University of Texas who had been volunteering in Tlamacazapa for almost 9 months and was happy to take us on a tour of the town. Not far from the clinic, the three of us passed a great, white, stone hole in the ground; about 15 feet across, the hole looked somewhat like a deep, empty swimming pool where you couldn’t see the bottom. This hole, Robbie pointed out, was a community well. The rainy season had just started so the well was still empty, but it would be full in a couple of weeks.

However, this well and the other ones like it are sources of many health issues in the community. The lack of a stable sewage system combined with the lead paint used to decorate palm baskets—the main source of income in the community—leads to the contamination of these wells with human waste when rain washes it through the streets and lead when basket-makers wash their hands in the wells. While the wealthier inhabitants can afford bottled water, the poorer community population is forced to use this contaminated well water. The daily ingestion of human waste and lead, combined with arsenic that leaches from the rock, has caused major health issues including high numbers of premature births, deformation and infant mortality.

The health issues plaguing Tlamacazapa make Nohami’s job as a midwife even more important. She explained that she is one of few health-care providers in the community as few to no doctors are willing to spend their time working in an area with such difficult conditions. Without more medical attention from compassionate people like Nohami, the people of Tlamacazapa would likely continue a cycle of illness and hardship.

Even with the difficulties Nohami faces in her work, she maintains a positive attitude; her interview was one of the most inspiring of my entire trip. She conveyed the belief that women are entitled to a safe and healthy birth, no matter their financial situation. A safe birth, like water, should not be a luxury, but a human right granted upon one’s entrance into this world.

-Briana

The poorer inhabitants of Tlmacazapa will use the water in this community well to wash their clothing.

A young boy curiously looks at the unfamiliar camera in his backyard.

Girls hold the brochures they were given at an informational meeting about CASA’s midwifery school.

Nohemi uses a doppler to monitor the heartbeat of an unborn baby.

Upon returning to CASA headquarters today to gather an additional interview and some footage of the childcare services, sentiments were quite similar to how we felt upon returning from our travels. By this point in our work with CASA, we have familiarized ourselves with the staff, the layout of headquarters, and I daresay we’ve even made a few friends. While feeling welcomed from the first day we set foot onto CASA turf, it’s great to see that our relationship with the individuals there have grown so strong in such a short time span. I suppose it serves as a reflection of the same relationships they share and forge with those that actually visit the organization for their services.

That being said, there is still always room for surprises and new experiences. Today, we had the privilege of getting footage of the childcare services that take place at CASA. Essentially, this means we got to play with little kids (arguably the best part of this job). The kids had nothing but smiles to give out and loved to have a bit of fun for the sake of the camera. Balls from the ballpit were flying around, kids were using the slide (both for climbing and sliding) in mass numbers, there was much shouting and running and giggling, and these curious kids especially loved to swarm the camera to see what we could possibly be recording amongst all the madness.

As my part on this voyage nears its unwelcome conclusion, I must say that I got a lot out of this trip. CASA has served as an inspiration in many regards, and more specifically the people that operate it have restored my faith in many aspects of humanity and that people out there actually care about people before profit. Organizations like CASA serve as proof that there is a need for healthcare and public services that can be given to everyone regardless of income, class or gender. Seeing as how this is my last blog from the trip, I would like to emphasize that these are the organizations that represent TRUE progress in a world that is going backwards in so many ways. We must fund them and give our support (this comes in forms other than financial contributions) if we are to ensure that justice and hope have a place in the future.

-Tarik

Kids at CASA

Briana and Caitlyn interview Nohemi Salazar Bello