Re: LEO THE HEALER REVISITED
Tommye Hope
As a child, Dr. Linda Valencia was fascinated by her grandmother, a traditional healer in Guatemala. But after choosing a different path and becoming a medical doctor, Linda realized that she could integrate the best parts of her grandmother's practices into modern medicine, in order to transform healthcare across Guatemala.
Also a quick note to parents listening with children. This episode touches on topics related to reproductive health and contraception. Thank you for your understanding and we hope you enjoy the episode.
Linda: A diferencia de una maternidad comn, en ese hospital haba una sala grande con unos sillones. Ah las parteras podan ayudar a las mujeres antes, durante y despus del parto, con la supervisin de un mdico.
Martina: Linda's job was to evaluate the quality of public hospitals in all of Guatemala. She was pleasantly surprised that in this one there was a space reserved for traditional midwives, but her initial excitement didn't last long.
Linda: Yo vi que la mayora de los trabajadores en el hospital trataba mal a las parteras, incluso los doctores y las enfermeras. No las dejaban ayudar durante el parto. Yo sent que todo era una farsa.
Martina: Some of the parteras were asked to sweep the floors, pick up the garbage, even to mop up the rooms after a delivery. They were treated more like janitors than healthcare professionals.
Linda: En ese momento, yo me di cuenta de que solo las tenan ah para que llegaran ms pacientes. Esto es porque, en Guatemala, especialmente en las reas rurales, las personas prefieren la medicina tradicional a la medicina moderna.
Martina: The experience was a turning point for Linda. As the granddaughter of a traditional Guatemalan healer, she had long been searching for a way to unite the best parts of traditional and modern medicine.
Martina: Bienvenidos and welcome to the Duolingo Spanish Podcast. I'm Martina Castro. Every episode, we bring you fascinating true stories, to help you improve your Spanish listening and gain new perspectives on the world.
The storyteller will be using intermediate Spanish and I'll be chiming in for context in English. If you miss something, you can always skip back and listen again. We also offer full transcripts at podcast.duolingo.com.
Martina: Growing up, Linda was fascinated with her grandmother, Herlinda. Herlinda was a healer, or curandera, someone who administers remedies for mental, emotional, physical or spiritual illnesses. In Guatemala, this is a practice passed down orally through generations in the same family.
Martina: "Mal de ojo", or the "evil eye", is considered an illness by many Guatemalans who believe humans have the power to transfer bad energy to others. Neighbors would bring their babies to Linda's grandmother when they suspected an energy imbalance.
Linda: Si un beb lloraba demasiado, su madre lo llevaba a nuestra casa para curarlo. Nosotras vivamos en Escuintla, un pueblito en el centro sur del pas. Mi abuela masajeaba el cuerpo del beb con un huevo y con hierbas. La gente pensaba que as la mala energa pasaba del cuerpo del beb al huevo.
Linda: Luego, mi abuela analizaba la forma que el huevo tomaba en la taza. Eso le indicaba lo que tena el beb y la ayudaba a saber cmo curarlo. Cuando el beb dejaba de llorar, mi abuela deca: "Su beb ya est curado".
Linda: Mi abuela era una mujer pequea, delgada y de piel clara. Su pelo siempre fue blanco, casi platinado. Yo recuerdo que ella muy pocas veces tomaba medicamentos. Ella siempre preparaba toda su medicina, incluso los laxantes.
Martina: But Linda's mother, Margarita, had no interest in following her family's footsteps. She was skeptical of traditional medicine. So she forged her own path in life, becoming the first in the family to attend college.
Linda: Mi mam estudi leyes y era quien ganaba el dinero para mantenernos a nosotras. Ella tena que trabajar mucho. Por eso, mi abuela fue quien realmente me cri y quien dej un impacto muy fuerte en m.
Linda: Una parte de la medicina tradicional se relaciona con las energas y el equilibrio del cuerpo. Ah est la magia de la medicina tradicional. La otra parte tiene que ver con el uso de las plantas naturales y la preparacin de infusiones, porque con eso se tratan las diferentes enfermedades.
Martina: In countries like Guatemala, where mestizo and indigenous people are still rooted in ancestral practices, the use of modern medicine is a complicated social issue. During the 70s and 80s, Guatemala started a widespread campaign to promote modern medical practices, with the intention of improving the health of people living in poverty and in remote areas.
Martina: Guatemala has a very hierarchical social structure that dates back to the Spanish colonization of the Americas. This means indigenous and mestizo communities often suffer racism and discrimination. As the country's health care system modernized, communities like Linda's felt left out of the transition.
Linda: Por eso, esta nueva relacin con la medicina a veces causaba desconfianza. Adems, no olvidemos el costo econmico de la salud, porque ese era un problema para las personas pobres que vivan en las zonas rurales.
Linda: La curandera no est simplemente relacionada con las enfermedades fsicas de una persona, sino tambin con el aspecto emocional y espiritual. Pero eso no era parte del sistema pblico de salud.
Linda: Ella siempre estuvo segura de que yo iba a ir a la universidad. Entonces, cuando lleg mi adolescencia, pens: "Yo quiero seguir los pasos de mi abuela, pero yo voy a ser doctora".
Martina: Herlinda fully supported Linda's decision to become a doctor of modern medicine. She respected that Linda didn't want to become a curandera, and understood that Linda's feelings about traditional medicine were somewhat conflicted, given her own mother's attitude.
Martina: Her grandmother knew first-hand the importance of this kind of medicine. Linda also had long been interested in a specific group of patients who visited her grandmother: young women who didn't have access to family planning methods.
Linda: En general, eran mujeres muy jvenes, de origen indgena, que siempre parecan tener miedo. Ellas iban a la casa porque queran medicinas caseras para evitar el embarazo. Este era un tema tab en la comunidad y, por esta razn, esas mujeres lo hacan en secreto.
Martina: When Linda was a child, traditional remedies were the only kind of help a young woman could access in Guatemala if she didn't want to have children. There was no access to contraception or sex education, especially for women in poor and rural areas.
Linda: Muchas mujeres no tenan acceso a esa informacin y no conocan sus derechos. Ellas no podan comprar anticonceptivos sin la autorizacin de sus padres o de un representante legal. Adems de eso, estaba la falta de educacin en las escuelas y el machismo.
Martina: According to the United Nations, Guatemala has one of the highest teen birth rates in Latin America. Abortion is legal only in cases where the mother's life is in danger, which often leads to unsafe abortion practices. The rate of maternal mortality is also high.
Linda: En mi adolescencia, vi a muchas mujeres en mi casa hablando sobre este tipo de cosas con mi abuela, y comprend que la salud materna es el corazn de la justicia social. En Guatemala, las mujeres de reas rurales son muy vulnerables. Yo entend que poda ayudar a mejorar esa situacin.
Martina: Linda was so motivated to improve maternal health that in 1992 she left home to study medicine at the San Carlos University of Guatemala in Guatemala City. She won a full scholarship.
Linda: En los aos de la universidad, no pude hacerlo porque no tena suficiente dinero, pero ella me visitaba a menudo. Sin embargo, en 1999, pude llevarla a vivir conmigo. Durante ese mismo ao, comenc mi residencia en el Hospital General San Juan de Dios.
Martina: During that first year of residency, Linda struggled to recreate the relationships she'd witnessed her grandmother nurture. She sometimes felt that instead of being a service based on trust, her work was a transaction based on speed and efficiency.
Linda: Durante mi residencia, yo pensaba en cmo mi trabajo verdaderamente poda mejorar la vida de las mujeres. Yo saba que tena que volver a la esencia de la medicina tradicional, de una u otra manera. Pero no saba cmo. Por suerte, yo tena a mi abuela como gua.
Martina: Linda was ultimately successful during her first years as a doctor. She became the second female Head of Residency for Gynecology in the history of the San Juan de Dios general Hospital. Then, she went on to work for the Ministry of Public Health.
Martina: Linda visited 37 hospitals during her first year, and only two passed the minimum standard of quality established by the ministry. And in Linda's opinion, they all lacked the one thing she had always admired in her grandmother's healing practices: a caring relationship between patient and caregiver.
Linda: El servicio no era bueno, era sin cuidado, sin recursos y muy poco personalizado. Por eso, las mujeres en las reas rurales no queran ir a los hospitales. Ellas, en cambio, sentan que la medicina tradicional era mejor y ms humana.
Linda: Ese fue uno de los tantos hospitales que no pas la evaluacin. Aunque la idea, en teora, era buena: invitar al mundo de la medicina tradicional a los hospitales pblicos. Algo de eso me dej pensando.
Martina: As she visited rural areas and talked with the parteras, Linda started to feel happy. She was back inside that traditional community work she'd experienced with her grandmother Herlinda.
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