Conversación de una salvadoreña frustrada

Conversando con un ciudadano Iraní en DC, me di cuenta o mejor dicho reafirme la impresión que tienen de nosotros los latinos y en especial los centroamericanos en este país (E.E.U.U.). Dicha persona me comenzó a hablar español-no tan bien, pero igual impresionante-, yo no tuve otra opción que preguntar: ‘’Donde aprendio español, señor?’’ Mofandose y a la vez sin culparlo de una manera ingénua me aseguró: ‘’Las mamás en América Latina les dicen a sus hijos que no tienen que aprender inglés cuando vienen acá.’’ En ese momento, sentí que una energía extraña se cruzaba por todo mi cuerpo; era una especie de rabia mezclada con tristeza. Sí, es cierto la mayoría de latinoamericanos en este país construye una especie mini-comunidad-burbuja que gira alrededor de su cultura, raices, costumbres y lenguaje, bueno ahora no seria correcto llamarla mini comunidad porque somos tantos que minimalizarnos numéricamente está de más, ya que la minimización social que enfrentamos es suficiente. Creo que es necesario pensar un poco más nuestras realidades.

Contextualizando un poco del porque tanta falta de ‘’integración’’ o mejor dicho ‘’asimiliación’’ a este país, es importante primeramente ver como esto evidencia la irresponsabilidad social de muchos gobiernos latinoamericanos. Hagamos memoria de como la población centroamericana en especial la comunidad salvadoreña se ha convertido en una de las más presentes en el área metropólitana de la capital estadounidense. En los años 80, periodo importantísimo para explicar muchas coyunturas latinoamericanas, se registró una fuerte migración femenina de centroamericanas en especial salvadoreñas en está area lo cual explica parte del fenómeno. Según el libro ‘’Waiting in Washington’’, Repak  hace un recuento de las experiencias acontecidas a muchas mujeres en materia migratoria (Repak, 1995). En primer lugar, ellas no solo fueron parte de una previa migración masiva a la capital salvadoreña, para encontrar mejores oportunidades laborales y sociales que no tenian en el campo (ya que de acuerdo a la cultura patriarcal latinoamericana, las mujeres en la zona rural no eran sujetas a recibir herencias en esos tiempos) esto aunandose al problema social de la Guerra, que por cierto afectaba más en las zonas rurales del país.

 Segundo, la tenacidad de estas mujeres que con un nivel mínimo de educación fueron capaces de embarcarse en la aventura de dejar a sus familias y desempeñarse sobre todo en el servicio doméstico de familias acomodadas, diplomáticas o representantes internacionales que radicaban en el país debido al conflicto armado el cual ultimamente conllevo a otro tipo de proceso migratorio esta vez en el exterior. Las familias de las cuales hablamos, radicaban en el país por unos años pero evidentemente debían regresar a su país de origen y en muchisímos casos regresaban a Washingtn DC, la capital del poder. Estas familias resolvían incorporar a estas mujeres y llevarselas consigo, en muchos casos apadrinando su legalización debido a presiones políticas  generadas en ese momento. Como se observa, fueron las mujeres las que iniciaron el viaje a esta nueva vida de ‘’oportunidades’’ y como es evidente lo hicieron desde un estracto inferior en la sociedad estadounidense, lugar social del cual ha costado salir.  A consecuencia de sus status legal, estas mujeres fueron capaces de traer a muchos de sus familiares donde entablaron una red en el negocio de la limpieza y servicios domesticos, oficio predominante hasta hoy en día.

Bueno vamos a la parte dolorosa de todo esto, habiendo puesto en context porque Washingtong es un destino ideal par alas familias salvadoreñas es preciso entender que las personas y en especial mujeres de origen latinoamericano que viven en este país suelen generalmente tener de dos a tres trabajos, sin mucho tiempo para respirar y dedicar a sus familias, por supuesto las mujeres y la gente que vino en los 80’s no se comparan a los recien llegados que apenas y son capaces de encontrar trabajo mal remunerado que solamente sirve para remesas y para medianamente mantenerse en este país cuyo costo de vida es muy por encima de lo que ellos ganan, sin tomar en cuenta el costo médico que les conlleva si se llegan a enfermar, principalmente porque estas mujeres tampoco tienen seguro medico lo cual es altamente riesgoso trabajando como trabajan. Muchas de estas recien migrantes, no han sido capaces de traer a sus familias porque sus condiciones no son las de los ochenta y muchas de ellas no han venido  a causa del ‘’boom’’ migratorio de esos tiempos, en otras palabras han llegado donde las puertas han sido previamente cerradas, uno de los sacrificios a los cuales se someten es casarse con hombres con estatus legal que en varias ocasiones han mostrado abusos no solamente físicos pero también psicológicos; de lo contrario viven solas y si son capaces de rehacer una familia son familias efimeras y como ven en muchos casos poco saludables.  Personalmente, soy de la zona oriental de El Salvador y es bastante contrastante ver la manera como las mujeres trabajan en este lugar en oficios de limpieza para mantener a sus familias, y como estas familias desarrollan una percepción falsa de la vida en Estados Unidos; despilfarrando el dinero en en cosas poco productivas sin miras  a un futuro financieramente seguro para  la famila en general. El trabajo de 12 horas diarios es desvirtuado y observado de una manera meramente superficial y en pocas palabras poco apreciado por los miembros de la familia. Lo irónico de estos casos es que si bien es cierto los hijos de estas mujeres no contemplan los esfuerzos de sus madres, también  son llamados en largo o mediano plazo a migrar debido a que las condiciones del país parecieran estar enmarcadas en ese rubro ‘’exportacion humana’’ para la devolución en remesas de dividendos en última instancia mal invertidos. Estas situaciones como ya es un común se atribuyen a pobreza, inseguridad y falta de trabajo digno en otras palabras falta de promoción económica y social del gobierno (de cualquier gobierno de izquierda o derecha da igual el resultado parece ser el mismo)

Como podemos ver es una cadena que no necesariamente debe concentrarse en la familia y en la culpabilidad de como ellas son capaces o no de cuidar lo que poseen sino mas bien es cuestión de observer la irresponsabilidad gubernamental. Primero a modo general, se debe ver la inexistencia de alguna clase de garantía laboral para areas de alta proporción de exportación de ‘’capital humano’’ como la zona oriental del país, olvidada desde hace muchos años. Segundo, si la idea del gobierno para crecer y sobrevivir economicamente es este ‘’honorable’’ rubro al menos debería de preparar a los candidatos al ‘’exilio’’ para un mundo lleno de competitividad.

Para una mínima referencia, se puede ver como la Universidad de El Salvador sigue siendo una de las universidades latinoamericanas de menor presupuesto, la misma Universidad que saca como mínimo 800 estudiantes cada graduación (3 ó 4 graduaciones anuales). Como ex-alumna de la UES es ridículo pensar, primero que nosotros estamos bien preparados, en otras palabras la calidad de la educación salvadoreña esta muy por debajo de lo que se necesita para competir internacionalmente. Además, considero que el país parece no tener la capacidad de absorber a tantos ‘’profesionales’’. En pocas palabras y para concluir esto que comenzo con el plantemiento de una simple conversación, perdonen como me extiendo pero espero comprendan, pienso que El Salvador y su gobierno (sea quien sea) tiene que tener en cuenta estos aspectos que sufren la gente que ‘’exporta’’ como cualquier producto diseñado para obtener ganancias las cuales se reflejan en la alta y descarada dependencia de remesas, así como también debe adquirir responsabilidad de haber exiliado y quitado el privilegio de vivir crecer y prosperar sin necesidad de salir de su país a ciudadanos salvadoreños, por supuesto a menos que lo quisieran por razones personales, pero ese no es el caso de muchos salvadoreños, sino estos no formarían micro-comunidades que refleje lo que dejaron atrás, es evidente que muchos estan aquí porque la estructura económica y social asi lo quizo, es tiempo de hacer valer a los miles y miles de gentes que se encuentran en el limbo del exilio económico involuntario.

Paola Bichara

Bibliografía

Repak, T. (1995). Waiting in Washington: Central American Worker's In The Nations Capital. Temple University Press.

Introduction
This study will explain why health care deficits in the U.S is a social problem and discuss who is affected and how it is tackled by the government and other related entities in the context of historical ideologies, who reinforce individualism and self-reliance as one of the core believes of American citizens. Finally, the paper will expose how this problematic issue could be connected to social justice; more than 46 million of U.S. citizens with lack of health insurance. This paper attempts to demonstrate it standpoints by touching upon some specific examples of Medicaid and how this empowers or affects women simply because they are the major users of this program.

  ‘’I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.‘’ Martin Luther King, Jr.


The U.S. Health system has always represented a complicated aspect in America and it has also generated controversy through out this country’s history. Many people around the United States have failed in receiving health care treatment. In comparison with other high-developed countries in the world, a great quantity of people have been neglected to be subjects of intervention based on some extreme circumstances such as underinsured, uninsured, discrimination because of preexisting medical or psychiatric conditions (Legerski 2012). These complications could harm families’ pockets to the extent in which they easily could be left on bankruptcy due to the constant skyrocketing prices and inflation within the U.S. health care industry . In short, the main problem related to health care in the United States is that most of the people cannot afford healthcare and the government cannot provide it either. Not every problem that exists within society represents a social problem; sometimes problems are regarded as particular difficulties confronted by individuals. However, it is important to note that when there is the same individual issue massively repeated and simultaneously it is most likely to encounter a social problem, in this case, health care is a clear example. For instance, we know that health is an organic component of any society; if the population of a community is troubling about their wellbeing is very likely that the society as a whole is going to pay the price by decreasing it level of productivity, increasing their levels of mortality, therefore, not having enough young population to lead and sustain the country’s development. In this context, women are especially in need of medical intervention, more than men during their lifetime in the United States. For instance, women are the largest victims of HIV/AIDS in the country. More than 266,000 adults living with AIDS in the US rely on Medicaid for their health care, most of them are women. HIV positive women are more likely than HIV positive men to be covered by Medicaid insurance for economic reasons; also, women need medical intervention throughout maternity, the federal government requires states to cover pregnancy-related and 60 days of postpartum care services for women with incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty level. Additionally, they are the ones who generally need assistance for family planning issues; finally, women have the highest life expectancy, in other words, women live longer than men, have higher rates of chronic health problems and lower incomes. They also comprise 70% of the nursing home population and receive 2/3 of home health care services (Hopkins 1999). According to the first phase of Jimenez’s policy analysis framework it is important to make clear some historical facts that underlined the core of the social problems (Jimenez 2010) Therefore is critical to note that U.S has never enjoyed insurance or universal health care as part of its safety net, people had to take care of their own according to the political principles of this country. Traditionally, Democrats or liberals in the United States call for a single payer system with universal coverage supported by taxes; on the other hand, Republicans or conservatives argued for minimal government intervention, supported market oriented reforms that neglected universal coverage, and emphasized Cost control, indeed, this is the most preponderant value that has underlies and domain the American health care policies because it is seem only as another market component. Interestingly, the U.S health care system and the U.S health insurance industry have developed simultaneously. In the 20th century, an industrialist called Henry Kaiser developed a complex system of clinics, hospital with pre-paid physicians this fact will later on inspired policy makers and health investors replicated this models all around U.S but also the institutionalization of the insurance system through Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) (Owen 2009). During the great depression American Federalism evolved from a system featuring a limited role for the federal government to a stronger more cooperative with all levels of government Social Security Act (1935) established many programs that settled basis for the future conformation of Medicaid and Medicare. Since the opening of MEDICARE and MEDICARE under Lyndon Johnson’s administration, the insurance companies developed a ‘’selective contracting’’ measures to select their clients. Unfortunately, since that same period until today the rampant inflation rates continue to rise. President Truman to Congress a federal insurance program to be founded by federal taxes. The plan was abandoned after the American Medical Association (AMA) demonstrated strong opposition because it supposed a strong involvement from the federal state (Grott, 2006). However it is interesting to note that even with strong allegation denouncing government intromission in health issues, the National Institute of Health (governmental institution) became the principal supporter of biomedical research, out pacing industry and private foundations since 1950 (Carol, 2009). In 1965 amendments were made of Social Security Act establishing health insurance for the aged in form of Medicare and grants for medical assistance to the poor in the form of Medicaid (Grott, 2006). The Johnson administration had profound on the scope of the federal role in social programs. Unfortunately, during the Nixon Administration, emphasis was placed on moving away from the categorical and grant-in-aid of the Johnson era this was called new federalism and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement policies were written to gain the support of the medical establishment. Private physicians made enormous sum of profit under the fee-for-free methods of payment. By the time Reagan was elected two reaction from congress emerged: An anti-regulatory pro competitive sentiment; and, movement towards decentralization of existing planning and regulatory programs 1983 reflected the new, new federalism under Reagan that was characterized by retrenchment and cost containment for public programs (Gorey, 1999). Once more, an inconsistency between liberals and conservatives was clear when Clinton administration brought many controversies to this matter again, when he somehow promised a health care reform that almost promised universal health care. Since the creation of the United States as a Federal State there has been factors and actors that applause the idea of a weak government who provide more ‘’liberty’’ to its citizens. People who are under any welfare program are stigmatized because they violate the value of self-reliance promoted by the founder fathers of America. Currently, many lobbyists are working against a strong government who takes care of health care issues. Conservative think tanks such as CATO, the Heritage Foundation, and American Enterprise Institute not also promoted the Health Policy Consensus Group which maximize influence on the federal government in regards to health care (Carol, 2009). Medicaid is critical to women because it provides low-income women of all ages with access to important health services including acute care, physician and hospital care and family planning care and as we mentioned before women are the majority of the adult Medicaid population. Currently, Medicaid provides health coverage to more than 50 million children, families, and pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities; however, the bill passed this year will indirectly target youth because they now will be ensured under their parents health care plans. All States provide Medicaid to infants and children under age 6 with family incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty level. Obama-care expands the program to cover over 20 million additional individuals (Hopkins, 1999). However, many criticize this implementation because it implicates more capital spending by the government to people who ‘’might’’ have the possibility to pay. Obviously, expanding Medicaid in the way I’ve described would be very
expensive. Nevertheless, better coordination of patient care would also help make
a dent in Medicaid’s administrative costs, which constitute about 5
percent of the program’s total costs because in some cases expanding
access to care actually reduces costs in the long-run expenses (Welch, 2005). Concretely, this paper poses four alternatives to ameliorate this social problem. The first alternative is encouraging more coordination so the waste of administrative capital could be avoided. According to Grott, one of the main characteristics of American health care system is fragmentation (Grott, 2006), which implies disjointed activities and exists at multiple levels. At the functional level, fragmentation may occur in the areas of financial management, human resources administration at levels of health provider and clinical service. Also, health department especially local level department do not have strong articulation with other social programs. Secondly, the federal government does not control prices and cannot stop the inflation. Federal investment on health contradicts the laissez-faire paradigm acclaimed by many in the U.S. in fact the government is the biggest buyer of health services and research sponsor, however, even though all this intromission in this matter it has not been able to control and regulate prices that harm people’s pocket and the government itself. Thirdly, partnership with other social programs is crucial to ensure social empowerment of people. For instance, adequate housing availability, employment opportunities, transportation services, and access to education influences one’s health and wellbeing therefore this entire plethora of social benefits have to be pursued jointly. Last but not least, the military U.S budget outrageously surpass $159 billions including the maintaining of some 900 bases abroad . Clearly some of this capital should be invested domestically on Americans who need health services. Social Justice according to Jillian Jimenez In the final analysis, after briefly examining the U.S. health care system, its characteristics and the social problem that it entailed, and the burden this represents for Americans it is important to revise the concept of social justice. I consider that Jimenez’s concept of social justice can better explain and be linked to health care issues in America. Jimenez sees social justice as a fair distribution of goods, services rights and duties in this vain he thinks that not just privileged few would have a say on how fundamental necessities and freedom are shared (Jimenez, 2010). Therefore, everybody would have access to basic rights such a health. In this sense, social justice should not be limited to prejudice prevention of those who use free health care services, is also important to take into account factors such as who are the actors who are involved upon delivering ‘’social justice’’ and what are their believes. In this regard, Reason and David (Reason & Davis, 2005) interestingly use two aspects within this concept to explain better it nature and also it dynamic. One is distributive justice, basically who decide about the policies, and equitable justice meaning the fair distribution of goods distributed.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zl5MWqu3pE

 Works Cited

 Carol, Owen L. "Consumer-Driven Health Care: Answer To Global Competition or Threat to Social Social Justice.’’ National Association of Social Workers, 2009: 307-315. Gorey, Kevin. "What is Wrong With The U.S. Health Care System?: It Does Not Effectively Exist For One of Every Five Americans." The Milbank Quarterly , 1999: 401-406. Grott, Catherine J. "The Development Of The U.S. Health Care System And The Contemporary Role Of Public Health Department." JHHSA, december 2006: 336-358. Hopkins, Janice. "U.S Survey Reveals Deficits In Women's Health Care." British Medical Journal (ProQuest Central), May 1999. Jimenez, Jillian. Social Policy And Social Change. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, 2010. Justice." Social Work (National Association Of Social Workers) 54, no. 4 (October 2009): 307-315. Legerski, Elizabeth. "The Cost Of Instability: The Effects Of Family, Work, and Welfare Change On Low-Income Women's Health." Sociological Forum (Eastern Sociaological Society) 27, no. 3 (September 2012): 641-657. Owen, Carol L. "Consumer-Driven Health Care: Answer To Global Competition or Threat to Social Justice." Social Work (National Association Of Social Workers) 54, no. 4 (October 2009): 307-315. Skinner, v Jonathan. "Understanding Prices and Quantities In The U.S. Health Care System." Journal Of Health Politics, Policy and Law (Duke University Press) 36, no. 4 (August 2011). Reason, Robert, and Travis Davis. "Antecedents, Precursors, and Concurrent Concepts In The Development Attitudes And Actions." New Directions For Student Services, summer 2005: 5-15 Welch, Edward M. "Plain Talk About Health Care." America 192, no. 6 (February 2005): 8-10.

Distinto cliche espiritual.....mismo efecto!

Podrá sonar cliché, pero nos han enseñado que Dios es un ser tan grande y lleno de poder "indescriptible" tan ajeno a nosotros mismos. A partir de esta premisa, muchos lo sentimos distante, fuera y a la vez tan lejos, tan abstracto y sobre todo tan deshumanizado. Que tal tomarse un momento con una pequeña intención de pensar un poco distinto? Bueno, no es nada del otro mundo, pero, seria lindo que pararas, reflexionaras y fueras testigo de tu propia respiración. Personalmente, no hay nada más sencillo que me haga sentir la cercanía de dios en mi vida...por supuesto, entiendase mi vida como parte microscópica de la infinita y divina creación natural que mi dios y tu dios,independientemente el nombre con que lo nombras, nos manifiesta. Es lindo "minimizar" a ese dios altivo para demostrarnos sus infinitas bondades. Divino, divino y sencillo. P

La propuesta del jamás

Sí sí sí!!!!

Esta como otras tantas e infinitas noches,

estas presente,

he buscado por muchas horas

poemas o canciones que puedan congelarte,

porque ahora resignadamente me doy cuenta que es la única manera de no seguirte perdiendo.

En mi brevisíma memoria, sólo queda espacio para recordarte,

en mi minusculo corazón sólo queda asilo para albergarte,

en mis asperas manos sólo quedan las interminables ganas de tocarte.

Ven una última noche y demostrame que vos como yo

pensamos intermitentemente en el imponsible de un adiós.