Stories of Friendship, Resilience, and the Search for Safety in Mexico Esteban Montano - Doctors Without Borders
go to original December 18, 2021

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people - most of them from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala - flee extreme violence and poverty at home and risk their lives traveling north through Mexico in search of safety. Despite their rights under international law, they are often rejected at the borders of destination countries like the US. As a result, many wind up stranded in shelters and makeshift camps.

More than 5,000 people are living in precarious conditions in the Mexican city of Reynosa, at the border with the US. At least 3,500 of them are staying in a makeshift settlement in Plaza de la República and in the Senda de Vida migrant shelter, many exposed to the elements and without access to basic services.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provides medical and psychological care, health promotion, water, and migration counseling to people in both locations. As of 2020 and until September 2021, MSF teams have cared for nearly 12,700 people in the cities of Reynosa and Matamoros at the US–Mexico border.
 

To mark International Migrants Day, MSF asked several people staying in Plaza de la República and at the Senda de Vida shelter to share their stories through photographs and testimonies. These stories portray the daily lives of people in the camp, the struggles they’ve experienced, and the urgent needs they face. They also show the joy, resourcefulness, resilience and solidarity they share.

Read their testimonies at Doctors Without Borders

Related: Migrants in Mexico Shelter Celebrate Holiday Amid Hopes to Enter U.S. (Reuters)

Related: Reinstatement of “Remain in Mexico” Policy Puts Thousands of Vulnerable People at Risk (Doctors Without Borders)

Related: Migrants in Caravan Protest to Demand Better Treatment in Mexico (Reuters)

  Learn about Doctors Without Borders in Mexico