Intro:
00:00 - 00:08
Marcela, an internally displaced woman from Mexico, tells her story. She had to leave her home to save her and her daughters’ lives.

Voice:
00:09 - 00:17
We lived in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. We came here because my husband had a problem:

00:17 - 00:24
he was chased by the mafia and his business partner was killed.

00:25 - 0:30
We were in the house when we saw some cars outside.

0:31 - 0:32
“What’s going on?” we asked ourselves.

0:33 - 00:37
My husband left at dawn. I didn't hear from him for some time.

00:38 - 00:42
But then he called me. He told me we had to get out

00:43 - 00:46
because they were looking for him and, if they didn't catch him,

00:47 - 00:49
they’d try to kidnap one of our girls or me.

00:50 - 00:53
We got on a bus. We didn't know where to go

00:53 - 00:55
and we didn't have much money.

00:55 - 00:59
I spoke to a cousin in the US and she told me about applying for asylum.

01:00 - 1:04
She said she’d help me if I wanted.

01:05 - 01:11
So I listened to her and we came here.

01:12 - 01:16
At the bus station, I asked where we could claim asylum.

01:17 - 01:20
Everyone said they didn’t know.

01:20 - 01:22
But I kept on asking and finally someone told me to go to the international bridge.

01:22 - 01:27
I was told we’d need to go on a waiting list and here we are, still waiting.

01:28 - 01:31
We don't have any answers or anything.

01:31 - 01:37
They gave us a tent to sleep in. Some neighbours, who were leaving,

01:37 - 01:43
gave me some cooking utensils. We get a weekly food donation.

01:43 - 01:47
We have to wait and wait, and now, because of COVID-19, we have to wait some more.

01:48 - 01:54
Our daily routine is: get up, make breakfast, clean up, wash the dishes,

01:54 - 01:58
sweep the floor, then stay here in our tent all day, nothing more.

01:59 - 02:04
We’re already feeling desperate. When it rains here, the camp floods. People fall

02:04 - 02:10
– I’ve fallen twice, my daughters too. Then it's too hot.

02:10 - 02:16
My little girl had a lot of spots on her skin. We have to look out for rats, because there are

02:17 - 02:24
a lot of them – we have to be careful of the food and stop diseases spreading.

02:24 - 02:27
We can’t just stay in this camp indefinitely

0:27 - 02:29
because it feels here like we’re in nowhere-land.

02:30 - 02:34
I’ve got nowhere to go. We haven’t claimed asylum because you need money to do that.

02:35 - 02:37
Where we were, we didn’t have much, but we did have food.

02:38 - 02:43
We have no future here.

02:44 - 02:46
It’s because of fear that we have to wait here.

02:47 - 02:50
If we’d stayed, they would have killed us

02:51 - 02:52
a long time ago.

02:52 - 02:58
I don’t want wealth – I want my daughters to be able to study, nothing more,

02:58 - 03:02
and for us to be in a safe place,

03:02 - 03:05
where we’re no longer afraid that they’re chasing us.

3:05 - 03:08
At night I don't sleep.

03:09 - 03:013
I’m afraid they’ll come inside the camp and kill us.

Text:

03:14 - 03:31
On International Migrants Day, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling attention to the terrible situation facing thousands of people on the move in Mexico and Central America. These people are directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and political decisions that do more harm. Urgent measures are needed to protect the lives, health, and dignity of all people.

03:32 - 03:46
Between January and November 2020 MSF had 3,482 medical consultations and 844 mental health consultation to migrant population in shelters in Reynosa and the asylum seekers camp in Matamoros, in Mexico, where around 1,000 people are living.