Olga Sanchez's refuge of hope in the south

Ms. Sanchez has cared for more than 2,500 migrants who have been injured on their journeys to the US.

By Sara Miller Llana | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the July 31, 2007 edition

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Tapachula, Mexico - Many have lost arms. Others have sacrificed legs and fingers to the "Beast," the infamous northbound train that travels from Arriaga, in Chiapas, northward through Mexico. It's one part of the long and dangerous trip for migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua to the US border.

For those who don't make the leap into the train cars or fall, due to the crush of other migrants, the tracks can be merciless, bringing an abrupt end to their journeys.

But while their hope of getting to the US has been lost, many are finding new-kindled inspiration in Olga Sanchez.

Ms. Sanchez started caring for injured Central American migrants in her modest home in the center of Tapachula nearly 20 years ago. But as the swell of migrants continues, her shelter has grown. She opened a new one more than two years ago that continues to expand.

On a recent visit, about two dozen migrants were at the shelter. Crutches and wheelchairs filled dormitories. They were making crafts to sell, studying English, attending mass. Some were shy, and covered their legs when visitors approached. Some have been there for years, others just long enough to recover.

"If it weren't for her, where would they go?" says Francisco Aceves, local coordinator of the government agency Grupos Beta, which brings migrants who have been injured on the train tracks to Sanchez.

Her work with migrants won her Mexico's National Prize for Human Rights in 2004.

Sanchez estimates that she has nursed more than 2,500 migrants since she opened the shelter. Among them is Edwin Pacay from Guatemala.

Mr. Pacay jumped on the train six months ago with all the confidence in the world of getting north. But dizzy from fatigue and hindered by the crush of migrants, he fell as it turned a corner and lost his left leg. Today, he stands proudly in his dormitory at the shelter, his English homework sprawled across his bed, crutches under his arms, with the same confidence that he will be moving onward, northward.

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