Florencia’s Story
Florencia Mendoza Contrera is a 72-year-old, being the 2nd of four brothers and sisters, and born in Loma de Miel, San Antonio Huitepec, Oaxaca, a village of 4,000 habitants. She comes from a peasant family who dedicated their time to basic agriculture. She grew up in a humble home with a palm roof and dirt floors. As a child, she helped her parents in the fields and never had a chance to go to primary school. In those times, only the boys of the family could attend school.
The community did not even have basic services, as the only illumination was lighted candles and they used well water. The closest store to purchase food stuffs was 4 hours by foot. As she grew up, she mainly worked in domestic services and at age 25, she went into a planned marriage. Her father died in the fields when she was 28-years old, although the cause was never confirmed. Only seven years later her mother also passed away also without a definitive cause but stopped eating and died bedridden.
Fortunately, she did have some bright spots as her husband Alberto was a hard-working gentleman. He helped them to establish a home, although they never had children. But in 2017, Florencia started to have symptoms of an unknown health issue. A niece, who had heard of La Clinica del Pueblo, helped her go there for an assessment and eventually she was hospitalized in December of 2018. Her husband stayed by her side the whole time, where over five days she was treated for internal bleeding. The cost of the stay would have been nearly $600 USD, but they only paid 25%. Fully recovered, they have returned to their village. This is one of the many positive outcomes that are only possible because of your support of Tash’s mission.
