“Shelter from the Storm” presents a panorama of asylum – the protective immigration status many migrants have sought at the U.S. southwest border – from shifting angles of experience, law, demography, economics, history and politics.”
~ ~ ~
[...]]]>
Mother & daughter reunited at airport. Photo: anonymous
“Shelter from the Storm” presents a panorama of asylum – the protective immigration status many migrants have sought at the U.S. southwest border – from shifting angles of experience, law, demography, economics, history and politics.”
~ ~ ~
“Ana and her teenage daughter Teresita (not their real names) fled their home in a Central American city after a local gangster put a gun to Teresita’s head and told Ana that he would kill her daughter if she didn’t pay protection for her little corner store. After eight days of travel, they arrived at what Mexicans call el río Bravo and got into an inflatable boat. In the middle of the river, it started leaking air. Ana, who does not know how to swim, tried vainly to stop the leak with her hands. Teresita can swim, so Ana gave her the plastic bag with their papers and IDs. Mother and daughter clutched each other.”
~ ~ ~
“Asylum means protection against being sent back to a home country where you might be persecuted. It’s recognized as a fundamental human right by United Nations treaties, and protected by international and U.S. laws. Asylum and refugee status are both granted in cases of ‘well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, membership in a particular social group, political opinion, or national origin.’”
~ ~ ~
This 71-page report is heavily footnoted and referenced. It can be downloaded as a PDF file from:
Google Drive: https://bit.ly/3g2lzfI
OneDrive: https://tinyurl.com/storm-2020
For an informative overview of the legalities of asylum, see the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project webcast, “Asylum for Beginners” - video & slides. Thanks to NWIRP for linking to this paper.
Some of my previous stories on immigration include:
“In the Footsteps of the Millennium Migration – download” (footnoted report). Crossover Dreams – Huffington Post, October 12, 2017. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/in-the-footsteps-of-the-millennium-migration-download_us_59dffb37e4b09e31db9757cd
“How the ‘Millennium Migration’ from Latin America Shaped the U.S. for the Better”. Foreign Policy In Focus, October 30, 2017. https://fpif.org/millennium-migration-latin-america-shaped-u-s-better
“Manufacturing illegality: An Interview with Mae Ngai”. Foreign Policy In Focus, January 16, 2019. https://fpif.org/manufacturing-illegality-an-interview-with-mae-ngai
“‘Being Tortured Has Been the Best Experience of My Life’”. Foreign Policy In Focus, September 25, 2015. https://fpif.org/being-tortured-has-been-the-best-experience-of-my-life
I’ve also published over 20 pieces on immigration and related topics on Inter Press Service:
http://ipsnews.net/author/peter-costantini
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Nota: El siguiente comentario ha aparecido en inglés en Inter Press Service y en Crossover Dreams.
Note: The following commentary has been published in English by Inter Press Service and Crossover Dreams.
El debate sobre la migración a Estados Unidos ¿le extraña? Pues, acuérdese de la Línea Maginot.
[...]]]>
Montaje gráfico por Peter Costantini
Nota: El siguiente comentario ha aparecido en inglés en Inter Press Service y en Crossover Dreams.
Note: The following commentary has been published in English by Inter Press Service and Crossover Dreams.
El debate sobre la migración a Estados Unidos ¿le extraña? Pues, acuérdese de la Línea Maginot.
Aquel sistema formidable de fortificaciones francesas fue construido en los años 1930 por André Maginot, el ministro de guerra francés, para defender contra una invasión desde el este. Desgraciadamente, la blitzkrieg Nazi lo esquivó por el norte y conquistó a la Francia adentro de seis semanas.
El pobre M. Maginot se convirtió en una taquigrafía para “librar la guerra anterior”. Pero al menos él trataba de enfrentarse a una amenaza existencial e inminente.
La invasión aterrorizante de los “illegal aliens”, como si fueran extraterrestres, contra la cual nuestros propios Maginots han construido centenares de millas de vallas fronterizas, movilizado la Guardia Nacional y lanzado los aviones robot, en realidad alcanzó su punto máximo en 2000 y ya se acabó hace buen rato. Desde el inicio de la Gran Recesión, ligeramente más mexicanos han vuelto a casa en su país que han venido aquí, y actualmente la migración neta parece muy cerca de cero. La población de inmigrantes indocumentados ha caído en un ocho por ciento desde su cima en 2007. Y al fin y al cabo, en vez de la devastación, la afluencia ha traído beneficios modestos pero bien amplios a nuestra economía y sociedad.
El éxodo empezó en medios de los años 90, impulsado por fuerzas de empuje y tracción muy poderosas. En México, el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte ha forzado a muchos campesinos a abandonar sus tierras, y la crisis del peso de 1994 tajó los salarios en un 20 por ciento, ajustado por inflación. Mientras tanto, el alza de la economía de Estados Unidos, alimentado por la tecnología, levantó los sueldos incluso para los trabajadores de bajos ingresos.
Hoy parece poco probable que una tal convergencia económica vuelva a pasar. Los altibajos de la economía mexicana ahora quedan acoplados más estrechamente con la nuestra. Y la taza mexicana de natalidad que se disminuye, junta con oportunidades crecientes de educación y empleo, sugieren que los factores que empujan a emigrantes hacia el norte podrían continuar a encogerse al medio y al largo plazo.
Sin embargo, nuestros Maginots siguen agachados en sus búnkeres, exigiendo medidas que nunca fueron económicamente eficaces, y frecuentemente contraproducentes frente a un enemigo fantasma.
La frontera entre México y Estados Unidos extiende más de 3,000 quilómetros, muchos de estos a través del desierto de Sonora, entre un país muy rico y un otro moderadamente pobre. Nunca se puede asegurarla contra toda migración, no importa lo mucho que sea militarizada. Hace mucho tiempo llegamos al punto de rendimientos decrecientes por arrojar plata, tecnología y mano de obra en ella.
La Maginot-ización ha aumentado la dificultad y el peligro de la travesía, pero casi todos aquellos dispuestos a seguir intentando logran cruzar finalmente. Mientras tanto, se estima que un 30 a 40 por ciento de los indocumentados simplemente entraron legalmente y se quedaron después de la expiración de sus visas. Los únicos factores capaces de disuadirles eficazmente a los inmigrantes resueltos son mercados laborales estrechos aquí o mejorados allí en su país.
El aumento de la seguridad fronteriza ha tenido también unas consecuencias no deseadas y muy feas. La triplicación consiguiente del costo de un coyote (guía) ha proporcionado en efecto un subsidio a los carteles narcotraficantes que controlan zonas importantes de la frontera y se aprovechan de los migrantes. La vigilancia intensificada en las áreas pobladas ha empujado a más travesías adentro del desierto salvaje, donde números atroces de viajeros siguen pereciendo.
La frontera fortificada también ha desalentado la migración circular. Desde el inicio, el patrón dominante ha sido de ir y volver cada uno u dos años, y con tiempo regresar a casa allá para construir una mejor vida. Ahora los crecientes costos y peligros han llevado a más inmigrantes a quedarse más rato en el Norte o a asentarse aquí y traer a sus familias.
Después de más de un siglo de subir y caer con las mareas económicas de los dos países, la inmigración no autorizada está profundamente arraigada en ambas culturas y economías. Es ilegal en el mismo sentido que la conducción por encima del límite de velocidad o el estacionamiento a tiempo extra. También se podría compararla a una especie de intrusión internacional, y si uno entra en propiedad ajena para un propósito benigno durante un tiempo bastante largo, el derecho consuetudinario de Estados Unidos le permite adquirir título mediante la “adverse possession”, o sea, “usucapión”.
En cuanto a los efectos económicos, la mayoría de los economistas laborales ha encontrado beneficios generales a trabajadores nacidos en EE.UU., a la economía en general, y a los saldos fiscales. Aún para el seis por ciento de los trabajadores nativos sin diploma de secundaria, la mayoría de investigaciones muestra aproximadamente la paridad entre efectos negativos y positivos. Y lo más revelador es que las organizaciones que en realidad representan a obreros de bajos salarios, incluso los sindicatos y las organizaciones comunitarias, están en gran medida a favor de sacar a los inmigrantes de las sombras a la legalidad, y de trabajar en solidaridad con ellos, lo que ayudaría a elevar el piso del mercado laboral.
Entonces, a ver: si los inmigrantes indocumentados no han hecho nada de malo y si contribuyen a la sociedad de EE.UU., pues ¿por qué constituiría un sendero a la ciudadanía una “amnistía”, así como dicen los restriccionistas?
En lugar de debatir cuantos quilómetros más de la Línea Maginot a construir, deberíamos concentrarnos en la mejor manera de integrar a los inmigrantes no autorizados en nuestra economía, mientras aumentamos el nivel de vida de todas las familias de bajos ingresos.
En vez de prodigar subsidios estatales en Boeing, Raytheon y Corrections Corporation of America para militarizar la frontera y encarcelar a inmigrantes no criminales, podríamos sacar muchos más beneficios enviando una pequeña fracción de aquel dinero a las regiones de México y América Central que envían emigrantes, para crear empleos, viviendas, y servicios de educación y salud. Y si quisiéramos ser excesivamente sensatos, podríamos gastar el resto en las mismas cosas aquí en nuestra casa.
Es poco probable que la inmigración no autorizada vuelva a alcanzar los niveles de hace 10 a 15 años. Pero si aumenta de nuevo en una auténtica recuperación económica, la reforma migratoria debe conceder suficientes visas a los trabajadores de pocas cualificaciones para satisfacer las demandas de la economía por su trabajo, sin perjudicar a los trabadores parecidos ya aquí. Esto requerirá negociación y ajuste continuo. Un buen modo de facilitar esto sería conformar una comisión pública de actores interesados en la inmigración de los sindicatos, las comunidades, la academia y las empresas, tal como ya tenemos en las comunicaciones, el comercio, la banca y otras áreas.
Para hacer frente a los retos reales de seguridad fronteriza, podríamos aprender algo del ex-fiscal general del estado de Arizona, Terry Goddard. El plan detallado que ha presentado les pegaría duro a los carteles criminales transnacionales donde más les duele, atacando a su capacidad de lavar dinero y de mover sus productos a través de la línea.
Como dijo el humorista Stephen Colbert de la “oleada fronteriza” propuesta por políticos anti-inmigrantes, “Pues, funcionó bien en Irak. Ya casi no ves a ningunos mexicanos que se cuelan en Bagdad.”
Peter Costantini ha reportado sobre temas de migración para Inter Press Service por varios años. También ha escrito para muchas publicaciones sobre México, Haití, Nicaragua y la economía internacional.
Enlaces
Peter Costantini. “OP-ED: If You Build It, They Will Go Around It.” New York: Inter Press Service, July 29, 2013. http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/07/op-ed-if-you-build-it-they-will-go-around-it
Peter Costantini. “If You Build It, They Will Go Around It: The Insanity of a Border Fence”. Common Dreams, July 30, 2013. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/07/30-5
Peter Costantini. “Immigration: If You Build It, They Will Go Around It”. Crossover Dreams (blog), Huffington Post, August 5, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/crossover-dreams/if-you-build-it-they-will_1_b_3699559.html
Peter Costantini. “Jornalero Juan Us Tiquiram” (video sobre un jornalero guatemalteco en Estados Unidos). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ble0ZrrRA8
Referencias
Francisco Alba. “Mexico: The New Migration Narrative”. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, April 2013. http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/display.cfm?id=947
Ana Avendaño, Director of the AFL-CIO Immigrant Worker Program. Telephone interviews by Peter Costantini, December 28, 2006, March 30, 2009 and January 20, 2010.
Damian Cave. “Better Lives for Mexicans Cut Allure of Going North”. New York: New York Times, July 6, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/07/06/world/americas/immigration.html
Daniel Chiquiar& Alejandrina Salcedo. “Mexican Migration to the United States: Underlying Economic Factors and Possible Scenarios for Future Flows”. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute & Wilson Center, April 2013. http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/RMSG-MexicoFlows.pdf
Congressional Budget Office. “The Role of Immigrants in the U.S. Labor Market: An Update”. Washington, DC: Congressional Budget Office, July 2010. http://cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/116xx/doc11691/07-23-immigrants_in_labor_force.pdf
Wayne A. Cornelius. “Reforming the Management of Migration Flows from Latin America to the United States”. Washington, DC: Brooking Institution, December 2008. http://ccis.ucsd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/WP-170.pdf
Peter Costantini. “Q&A: ‘Helping the Most Vulnerable Benefits All Workers’”. Seattle: Inter Press Service, June13, 2009. http://www.ipsnews.net/2009/06/qa-helping-the-most-vulnerable-benefits-all-workers/
Jorge Durand, Profesor de Antropología Social, Universidad de Guadalajara, Co-Director of Mexican Migration Project. http://mmp.opr.princeton.edu. Telephone interview by Peter Costantini, December 11, 2006.
The Economist. “The peso crisis, ten years on: Tequila slammer”. London: The Economist, December 29, 2004. http://www.economist.com/node/3524948
Walter Ewing. “Busting the Myth of the ‘Job Stealing’ Immigrant”. Washington, DC: Immigration Impact, June 14, 2013. http://immigrationimpact.com/2013/06/14/evidence-shows-that-immigration-does-not-increase-unemployment/
Terry Goddard. “How to Fix a Broken Border: A Three-Part Series”. Washington, DC: Immigration Policy Center, May 2012. http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/perspectives/how-fix-broken-border-three-part-series
Gordon Hanson. “The Economics and Policy of Illegal Immigration in the United States”. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, December 2009. http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/hanson-dec09.pdf
Julia Hotchkiss, Myriam Quispe-Agnoli, and Fernando Rios-Avila. “The Wage Impact of Undocumented Workers”. Atlanta, GA: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, March 2012. http://www.frbatlanta.org/documents/pubs/wp/wp1204.pdf
Immigration Policy Center. “The Unauthorized Population Today: Number Holds Steady at 11 Million, Three-Fifths Have Been Here More Than a Decade”. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, March 22, 2011. http://immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/unauthorized-population-today
Gerald D. Jaynes. “A Conversation About the Economic Effects of Immigrants on African Americans”.Washington, DC: Immigration Policy Center, July 2009. http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/docs/Gerald%20Jaynes%20071409.pdf
Benjamin Todd Jealous. “No Second-Class Families”. Huffington Post, May 10, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-todd-jealous/no-second-class-families_b_3253713.html
Christine Kovic. “Migrant Deaths and the New Disappeared on the South Texas Border”. Mexico City: CIP Americas Program, June 21, 2013. http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/9786
Douglas Massey, Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University, Co-Director of Mexican Migration Project. http://mmp.opr.princeton.edu. Telephone interview by Peter Costantini, May 22, 2006.
Todd Miller. “Creating a Military-Industrial-Immigration Complex”. New York: The Nation, July 11, 2013. http://www.thenation.com/article/175211/creating-military-industrial-immigration-complex
Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Doris Meissner& Carlos Gutierrez . “Thinking Regionally to Compete Globally: Leveraging Migration & Human Capital in the U.S., Mexico, and Central America”. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute & Wilson Center, May 7, 2013. http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/RMSG-FinalReport.pdf
Jeffrey Passel, D’Vera Cohn and Ana Gonzalez-Barrera. “Net Migration from Mexico Falls to Zero – and Perhaps Less”. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center, May 3, 2012. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/04/23/net-migration-from-mexico-falls-to-zero-and-perhaps-less/
Giovanni Peri. ”The Effect of Immigrants on U.S. Employment and Productivity”. San Francisco, CA: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, August 30, 2010. http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2010/el2010-26.html
Real Estate Law. “What is adverse possession?” Free Advice (web site), 2013. http://real-estate-law.freeadvice.com/real-estate-law/real-estate-law/adverse_possession.htm
Heidi Shierholz. “Immigration and wages – Methodological advancements confirm modest gains for native workers”. Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute, February 4, 2010. http://www.epi.org/page/-/bp255/bp255.pdf
Jack Strauss. “Allies, Not Enemies: How Latino Immigration Boosts African American Employment and Wages”. Washington, DC: Immigration Policy Center, June 12, 2013. http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/perspectives/allies-not-enemies-how-latino-immigration-boosts-african-american-employment-and-wages
Lisa Sullivan. “Familias separadas, sufrimiento y muerte– resultados de la militarización de la frontera”. Ciudad de México: CIP Programa de las Américas, 8 julio 2013. http://www.cipamericas.org/es/archives/9985
Sergio Zermeño. “Desolation: Mexican Campesinos and Agriculture in the 21st Century”. New York: NACLA Report on the Americas, September 2008. https://nacla.org/node/4942
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Dear Cara and Mariah,
Michaela and I (along with your cousins Kick and Saoirse) have just returned from Buena Vista, where we spent the last week [...]]]>
Kerry Kennedy. Photo: Eric Silva / CC 3.0
Dear Cara and Mariah,
Michaela and I (along with your cousins Kick and Saoirse) have just returned from Buena Vista, where we spent the last week building a school with RFK Human Rights Award laureate Abel Barrera and five of his staff of human rights defenders, a team of 24 Americans, and an equal number of Me’phaa indigenous people.
Buena Vista is a community of about 150 people in the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico. There are about 700 indigenous communities in the region, and the literacy rate is among the lowest in Mexico, hovering near 50 percent.
For ten years the leaders of Buena Vista traversed the dirt path which is impassible during the five month rainy season, then traveled three hours more on a paved road cut into the Sierra Madre mountains—where chunks the size of tractors have disappeared down the treacherous cliffs below—to reach Chilpancingo, the headquarters of the state government, where they demanded a teacher, a school, supplies, and certification, so their children could exercise the right to education.
And for ten years, the government set forth a litany of excuses or didn’t bother to answer the demands.
As we worked side by side on the school, Marisabelle (38) helped slap mud onto the side of the adobe walls. She had had her first child at age 13, and now her three-year-old granddaughter will attend this school. She said that children between the ages of three and seven years old walk two hours to the closest school in the neighbouring village and two hours back. About three times a month the teacher simply fails to show up and rarely lets students know in advance. But the kids, hungry for an education, make the trip anyway, just in case the teacher is there.
Finally the leaders of Buena Vista contacted Abel Barrera and his team of lawyers and community organisers from the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre who proposed a lawsuit demanding access to education for the children. This was unprecedented in two important ways. First, there is no legal framework for an entire community to demand a right under the Mexican judicial system. And, second, the lawsuit sought to establish legal accountability for the failure to provide for the right to education. In Mexico, as in our own country and most of the world, the legal mechanisms used to defend political rights like the right to vote, don’t work well for social, economic and cultural rights like the rights to health or education. So this lawsuit will have implications not only for the people of Mexico but for people seeking redress around the world.
After ten years of struggle, almost as soon as the lawsuit was filed – voilà! The government sent a teacher to Buena Vista.
The government then went to the judge and said they had complied with the court order and the case should be dropped. When the judge agreed, the people of Buena Vista appealed the case and demanded not only a teacher but certification and supplies as well.
Then a series of government representatives traveled to Buena Vista, and urged the community to drop the case.
But the community persevered.
Building schools is not the business of the RFK Centre. Helping our RFK Human Rights Award laureates change laws or policies is. So we work side by side with Abel and Santiago to support Tlachinollan’s legal actions, writing amicus briefs and advocating at the federal level in the United States and in Mexico itself.
As part of our work we are currently presenting a case against Colombia regarding the right to education of indigenous people. A decision by the Inter-American Commission and Court would benefit Mexico as well.
But lawsuits can take years, children grow fast, and we pursue justice in the name of Robert Kennedy. Even though he understood the importance of changing the law, when it came to education, Grandpa Bobby didn’t wait.
When the Supreme Court decided Brown vs. the Board of Education, and demanded the integration of all public schools, the ruling fathers of Prince Edward County, Virginia, came up with a plan of resistance. In 1959, they closed down every public school in the county. Overnight, all the white kids went to newly formed private schools, and all the black kids were out of luck. When your Grandpa, Robert Kennedy, became Attorney General, he brought a lawsuit against the county—but he knew it would be years for that suit to wend its way through the courts. So he established the Prince Edward County Free School, recruited teachers from across the country, and that school system became a landmark in the Civil Rights struggle.
We thought it seemed only fitting that, 50 years later, at the urging of your younger sister Michaela, the human rights organisation pursuing justice in Robert Kennedy’s name should help build a school in Buena Vista.
During our trip, we saw sunrises and sunsets and everything in-between, but what we didn’t see were youth—men between the ages of 15 and 30. The one exception was Miciel.
When we asked where all of his contemporaries were, Miciel explained that they had joined the migration trail, some to pick food in Mexico, but most to the United States. Because there is no education in their community, and therefore no jobs and no opportunities for people like him to pursue, there is an entire generation living in a sort of real life Hunger Games. Communities desperate for cash will often agree that each family sends one youth to the United States—in order to make enough to pay community dues. They know the women will likely be raped along the way and that the men may well die crossing the border, but with no education and therefore no hope of a job, El Norte is the only choice.
The first time Miciel tried to emigrate he was 15 years old and he was lost in the desert for nine days; the next time he was imprisoned by Mexican border patrol agents who stole the 1,500 dollars it took him 18 months to save. Finally, on his third attempt, he made it all the way to New York, where he was caught and deported and dumped in one of the most dangerous parts of Mexico. From there, it took him months to get home. Right now, he is planning a fourth attempt.
These are conditions which we would not tolerate for our children or for anyone who works for us; but for someone like Miciel, opportunity means trying to hop the border and then work 80 or 100 hours a week on the migrant trail at minimum wage in awful conditions so his community can survive. Meanwhile the United States Government spends hundreds of millions of dollars to track down people like Miciel and re-deport them.
Our work at the RFK Center is helping Abel and Santiago provide a legal framework, standards and a model for other indigenous villages in Mexico and indeed across the continent—so the three-year-old granddaughter of Marisabelle doesn’t feel like her only option is to cross a border.
Love,
Momma
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In Paris, the Chilean researcher, novelist and feminist Ana (Nicha) Vazquez Bronfman had died, aged 71. She was a beacon for a generation of Latin American women for her insights on identity and gender. One [...]]]>
Motherhood, sisterhood, friendship.
In Paris, the Chilean researcher, novelist and feminist Ana (Nicha) Vazquez Bronfman had died, aged 71. She was a beacon for a generation of Latin American women for her insights on identity and gender. One concept she elaborated specially was “transculturation” – the permanent construction of identities in this world of global migration. In 2006 she wrote superbly about sexuality among the elderly – transgressions and secrets, she called it.
In Rome, my friend and fellow journalist Paola Rolletta underwent the next to last chemotherapy session against breast cancer. She was jubilant to see the end of the chemical bombardment. Like antiretrovirals, chemo saves lives but is no picnic.
So, in three hours, youth, disease, health and death touched me. Motherhood and friendship. Joy and sorrow.
Email has made this vertigo possible. News travel quickly and straight to our screens, to our hearts and minds.
News from friends
These days, breast cancer appears more frequently in news from friends.
One in the Dominican Republic and another in Mozambique finished their chemo last year. Paola is finishing hers in February. In Pretoria, where I live, another friend had her second chemo last Friday.
We had lunch together today and wondered if there is more breast cancer among women now than 50 years ago, or better detection. If the rates are higher, why? Lifestyle, fast food, stress, radiation from microwaves, cellphones and all the gadgets that crowd our life?
The Harvard School of Public Health estimates that the poor will account for more than 55 percent of breast cancer deaths this year. Read a very informative story on growing cancer rates among women in the developing world here.
A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine argues that “western” influences such as changes in diet, less exercise, delayed childbirth, families with fewer children, less breast feeding, and hormone replacement therapy are all thought to increase the risk of breast cancer for women in low-income countries.
The good news is that breast cancer, like AIDS, is becoming less and less lethal, if detected and treated early.
I am so proud of my cancer-survivor friends. They have worn their baldness as a badge of courage and have acquired new wisdom.
And while we age and think about breast cancer, a younger generation moves closer to adulthood.
I wondered how to name and save this rambling text in my laptop. And I wrote – BLOG: LIFE.
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