According to El País, when she was 12 years old, Julissa left an immigration shelter on the U.S.-Mexico border and entered the United States, only to be infected with COVID-19 in New York. At that time, Julissa's mother bid her farewell on the banks of the Bravo River in Mexico, and the young girl walked 150 meters, crossed the bridge connecting the United States and Mexico, and stepped on American territory. The U.S. government detained children like her for several weeks until it was verified that they had relatives in the United States and waited to be reunited with them. Julisa's aunt in Oklahoma will pick her up, but a host family will entertain her before her aunt arrives. The host family owner said, "Julissa contracted COVID-19 and infected our entire family, and my daughter was sent to quarantine."
Matamos Sanctuary in northern Mexico (Image credit: El País)
Concerns from mothers on the other side of the border
Julissa's mother, Carmen Ochoa, 32, sat in front of the zippered door of her tent as she stared into the sky and remembered the scene of her daughter leaving her two months earlier, her eyes filled with tears. The Matamoros refugee camp is located on the border between the eastern United States and Mexico, where the Bravo River flows into the United States. It resembles a painting by a French Impressionist painter, with the river rushing through the reeds, but the Matamoros refugee camp is the opposite.
According to Global Response Management, which provides health care, there are about 2,400 people in matamoros camps, including 500 children and 300 pregnant women.
"Julisa suffers from sinusitis and gets sick from time to time, and she can't even make a sound due to bad weather." Carmen prayed for her daughter in New York, one of the hardest-hit cities in the world, and for her two other children who remained in Honduras. The latest news Carmen received from USCIS was that she would be deported and unable to re-enter the United States. The camp ceased to be Carmen's refuge until Julesa was confirmed to be safe. Carmen will then set off, but her native Honduras will not be her destination. Carmen's husband was murdered there, "they told me he (husband) was missing, but I knew he was dead. ”
"I like Canada and I like Spain, I have two brothers and four cousins there. They told me they could accept me, but couldn't pay for my plane ticket. Carmen said.
Volunteer organizations bring medical assistance to the camps
Volunteers raised money for the children in the camp and wanted to build a school for them. However, due to the constraints of the office and related procedures, this plan was not realized. Fortunately, some NGOs, such as the Global Response Management Organization, have installed medical vehicles in shelters to provide medical assistance to refugees.
Genesis Orellana and her friends (Credit: El País)
Genesis Orellana, 14, with a mask given to her by a doctor and her friend Nicoll, 12, reached out for a virus test. The camp clinic plans to provide tests for more than 1,000 people, after more than 300 people were previously tested, all of whom were negative. The head of the agency, Daniel Taylor, 34, said he knew the situation would be complicated if the virus spread in the shelter, "but no more than in the small town of Matamoros, where there are no medical facilities to fight the virus." ”
The Global Response Management Group has embarked on the establishment of a field hospital at the shelter and the installation of 20 beds and solar-powered breathing aids. In addition, the hospital will have four intensive care beds and separate exhaust fans. The Mexican bureaucracy will also allow incoming goods stranded at the border.
The "road to escape" is fraught with difficulties
The road to Matamoros is one of the most dangerous in Mexico, where criminal organization vehicles are infested every day and no one knows what will happen in the next moment.
As a result, migrants will not leave the territory of the Matamoros sanctuary. Many people choose to work locally, and Tania Valladares is employed by a beauty salon in Matamoros. She didn't want to think back to the hardships of the journey before she got to the camp.
Her husband, Fabricio, 27, said: "She doesn't eat, she doesn't talk, she doesn't shower. To this day, Tanya barely speaks at the door of the store.
In the afternoon in the small town of Matamoros, there seems to be nothing special, various colors of light signs and posters are hung high, law firms, dentistry, currency exchange, pharmacies, beauty salons are open. The shelter camp is also a harmonious scene, with a clay kitchen and a perfect drainage system, all in line with people's fantasies of a peaceful home. Migrants from 7 countries lined up for dinner, with fish, rice, salad and fruit packed on plastic plates.
Carmen is waiting for news that her daughter Julisa is getting better, and now the most worrying thing for her is no longer sinusitis or cold weather, and the "enemy" is no longer the violence of criminal organizations or the murderer of her husband in Honduras. Under the COVID-19 pandemic, life in the small town of Matamoros has not stopped functioning.
Red Star News reporter Wang Yalin Luo Tian intern reporter Fu Hangyu
Edited by Guo Yu
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