Fewer shelters mean fewer places where they can rest, bathe, eat, and receive medical care. At the mobile clinics run by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) along the Mexican migration route, they arrive carrying their few belongings in backpacks or plastic shopping bags. Though most travel light, they are weighed down by the psychological burden of trauma, both in their home countries and on the road.
These backpacks are carried by Michael, Ingrid, Jorge, and Ervin, four Honduran migrants who fled violence, unemployment, poverty, and the damage caused by recent hurricanes Eta and Iota. All four received medical treatment at a mobile MSF clinic in Coatzacoalcos, in the southern Mexican state of Veracruz. These are the things they carried with them.
Michael
Michael, 26, is from the Colón department of Honduras. He left his country after the recent hurricanes Eta and Iota ruined his crops and devastated his community. He is aware of the difficulties and dangers of the journey ahead, but aims to reach the United States to find work and support his family.