Physicians for Human Rights
Saturday I was very fortunate to attend a conference for medical students ran by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and hosted at Brown University. PHR is global organization based out of Cambridge. This conference highlighted human rights issues all over the world and the roll that the medical community plays. I was a guest speaker because PHR along with Pro-Búsqueda were the two organizations that helped reunite me with my family.
The conference was a all day event with lots of guest speakers. They spoke of the conflicts in Darfur and the human rights violations that have been taking place there. There have been reports of ethnic cleansing and using rape as a way to insight fear.
We learned about what is was like for the women who live there. Who are struggling to feed their family and are at constant risk of being raped if they venture too far. The culture is such that if a women is raped that it is viewed as her fault. She can not speak of what happened, even to her own family, for fear that she may be beaten. The situation there is still very bad and PHR is working hard to try and find ways to help these people.
It reminds me of the war in my own country of El Salvador, where the government had a policy of kidnapping children to punish families that helped the rebellion. Its sad that in this day and age these types of human right violation still take place.
My presentation was at the end of the day and I was happy to be able to provide a positive outlook on these tough issues. I spoke of the roll that PHR had in my story and how thankful I was for people like them. My message was simple. Advocacy work is very hard and often there is little to show for all the effort. However the work they do is so important and can mean a lot to the people they help.
What really impressed me about this event was the passion and dedication of the people attending. Many of them are studying to be doctors and have unbelievably busy schedules. The fact that they would take time away from everything they are doing, to fly across the country and attend this event is truly amazing. We need more people like this. These are the people that will change the world.
However they can’t do it alone. They need your help. We all need your help, to make a difference in the world for the people who defend themselves.
- To get involved with the crisis in Darfur please visit http://www.savedarfur.org/. Even by signing up for the newsletters like me you will be making a difference.
- To learn more about the work of PHR please visit http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/. You don’t have to be a doctor to get involved.
- To learn more about the events that took place in El Salvador subscribe to the blog. A group is forming to address these issues and I will posting about it soon.
