A letter from Katie Griffin in Argentina
July 2, 2009
Buenos Aires
Dear Friends and Family,
Through conversations with my parents on Skype, I understand that the A flu is not big news in the States. Here in the greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, the influenza A (H1N1) is very big news and awareness is growing rapidly throughout Argentina.
I ask that you keep this country, the people, the local, provincial and national governments and health authorities, and the public and private health systems in your prayers. Doctors are overloaded. The provincial governments and many municipal governments have declared a health emergency, and the rumor is that the federal government will follow suit within the next day or two.
Unfortunately, due to political machinations, the minister of health resigned on Monday of this week, so the declaration of national emergency is pending the installation of the new minister. There were legislative elections last Sunday, so the minister respected the president’s wishes not to resign until the elections were over. The political parties were not willing to postpone the elections (originally scheduled for October, not June) in spite of the rapidly spreading flu virus.
Argentina now has the third-highest death rate due to the new flu virus (after the United States and Mexico). Health authorities were slow to respond when the first case of the A flu was confirmed in this country, and since we are in the midst of the winter flu and cold season anyway, the new flu has spread like wildfire in a drought. Adding to the danger is the fact that we live in a very densely populated area — about 35 percent of the country’s population lives in the city of Buenos Aires and surrounding areas.
The poorest communities have been hardest hit. Residents there have little public health education, chronic problems of malnutrition, and also unattended chronic respiratory illnesses. The strain of the virus that is spreading here has been particularly devastating for pregnant women.
The church where my husband is a pastor has been very active in motivating young pregnant girls to seek the health care they need and has been helping provide them with highly nutritious foods. The church’s resources are so limited that we have not been able to provide as much food as needed. Because of the provincial declaration of emergency, the church has to close the soup kitchen in order to help prevent further contagion.
I am concerned about some of the pregnant girls that our soup kitchen serves. Please keep Lorena and Daniela especially in your prayers.
We are being careful in our family. Noelia stopped going to kindergarten a week and a half ago — the first week because of doctor’s orders, since she had fever and bronchial congestion, the second week because we just did not want to risk exposing her to other potentially sick children. As of next week, schools will be closed until after the winter recess (which is usually two weeks, but this year, for health reasons, will be four weeks). Noelia is healthy now, and the rest of us are fine. As long as we keep lots of soap in the house and wash our hands and faces when we have been out and about, we should be okay.
I have just been informed that the last two days of classes this semester at ISEDET have been cancelled, so I will have no more contact with students there. The administrative commission at church is buying paper facemasks to distribute at church Sunday morning to help minimize contagion in the event that a church member may be incubating the flu virus.
I am not worried about my family, since we are generally healthy and well fed. We need to keep our eye on Noelia, but the PC(USA) offers us excellent health coverage. And as long as she stays away from possible sources of contagion, she will be fine.
May the God of all grace be with and guide you.
Katie
The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 299
