U.S.-Mexico border wreaks havoc on lives of an indigenous desert tribe
U.S.-Mexico border wreaks havoc on lives of an indigenous desert tribe
John Moore / Getty Images
If you are Tohono Oodham and live on the Mexican side, its a second-class life
May 25, 2014 5:00AM ET
by Kate Kilpatrick
SAN MANUEL, Mexico Jesús Manuel Casares Figueroa needs a catheter or he will die. His bloated chest pressed against his blue jacket as he sat in a wheelchair in front of his uncles modest concrete-block home, one of a handful in this traditional village of the Oodham in the Sonoran desert. His mother touched a gold-colored earring that dangled from Jesús Manuels left ear. Her son was born with spina bifida, she explained, and a chronic kidney infection has complicated his condition.
In February, the doctor said Jesús Manuel urgently needed the operation. His family didnt have the money then, and they dont have it now.
So in a few hours mother and son will go door to door asking for donations in the neighboring Oodham village, about 60 miles south of Nogales.
For thousands of years, the Tohono Oodham (meaning Desert People) inhabited what is today southern Arizona and the northern state of Sonora in Mexico. But the Oodham were there long before either Mexico or the U.S. existed as nations. Weve always been here, said Amy Juan, 28, a young activist on the reservation. Nobody can argue that we werent here first.
More:
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/5/25/us-mexico-borderwreakshavocwithlivesofanindigenousdesertpeople.html