By: MSc. María Inés Álvarez Garay (*)
«I am going to use a phrase, not definitive, because we must not renounce the idea of Homeland or Death, or the idea of Socialism or Death, and I am going to say as a young deputy said in the National Assembly: Homeland and Life !, Life for you is what we want! «
Fidel Castro Ruz
The eternal Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, always highlighted the «duty of compensation» that Cubans have with Africa, due to the crucial role played by Africans and their descendants in the independence wars of our country and their contribution to the construction of our Caribbean nation.
From Mother Africa to which we are united by strong ties of blood, culture and history, we reaffirm that Cuban health professionals carry intheir veins, principles and convictions of Homeland and Life.
Cuba, small and poor, has been, is and will be great in its endeavor to be useful to humanity. From the very beginning of the revolutionary process, in October 1868, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, the Father of the Nation, envisioned «a great and civilized nation, to extend a friendly arm and a fraternal heart to all other peoples.»
That is Homeland and Life, Thousands of lives saved, millions of patients treated, the recognition of the peoples, sowing and reaping love through medicine, it is the greatest gratitude and also the fruits of the solidarity vocation that characterizes us as a people and nation.
Homeland and Life is the result of our internationalist work in Algeria, in Venezuela with Milagro and Barrio Adentro Missions, the creation of the Henry Reeve Brigade specialized in disasters, the medical mission in Pakistan, a country affected by an earthquake on October 8th, 2005.
Homeland and Life was the creation of the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), the Cuban medical mission in West African countries affected by the Ebola virus, and at this time the battle against one of the most terrible pandemics that has hit the humanity, Covid-19.
Homeland and Life is the work carried out by the Cuban Medical Brigade (BMC) in The Gambia, which has endorsed Marti’s principle of Homeland is humanity, and its main objective is to deliver Health and Life.
More than 155 warriors in white coats, spread across all corners of the Gambian geography, serve vulnerable populations, many of whom have never received medical assistance.
So far this year, the BMC has treated more than 136,836 patients, 5,924 in Dentistry, 3,622 in hemodialysis, 3,167 in the Rehabilitation service. it has performed more than 3,670 deliveries, 2,921 surgeries, 7,804, ultrasounds and 91 endoscopic studies, which has contributed to raising the health rates, and the gratitude and satisfaction of the people and the authorities of The Gambia.
Homeland and Life is their work on the red line assisting patients suffering from Covid-19, showing their skill, knowledge and scientific preparation of which we Cubans live proudly.
We speak with facts and do not waste words, we show that we are genuine, we do not steal sentences to use them against our own brothers and sisters, we carry them in our hearts and we make them come true out of pure conviction and for the good of all humanity in need.
Our eternal Fidel expressed:
«These words would seem presumptuous if our country could not be qualified today with all justice as the country that has done the most in the world to share its medical knowledge and experiences with other peoples.
Not once, throughout its self-sacrificing revolutionary history, did our people stop offering their solidarity medical aid in the event of catastrophes to other peoples that required it, no matter how abysmal the ideological and political differences were, or the serious offenses received. of the governments of any country.
Our concepts about the human condition of other peoples and the duty of brotherhood and solidarity have never been and will never be betrayed. «
That is what we really call, Homeland and Life!
(*) Professor and collaborator of the Cuban Medical Brigade
"An Island on a Continent" 