I have been learning something lately from Carabayllo. Partners in Health holds on to the philosophy of shining light into dark corners where it would be exceedingly easy to write it off as doomed. Take the photo above. It's of my friend Milagros, a midwife for Partners in Health doing home visits. I borrowed it from the PIH files. If you are in a different context, you have the privilege to talk about how bad things are and how bad they will become (i.e. pessimism) in the future, you can afford to think that way. Your life doesn't literally depend on people holding on to hope.

You need to have a certain number of resources to spend time postulating about the future of the planet. If you are poor, pregnant, and living in the slums of Carabayllo, you can always chose to be pessimistic, give up, and die. Sorry to say, but it's completely true. It would be easy to do. But it would be because you decided things would not improve for you and for the people around you. If you decide that you care enough about this place and the people in it, you see Milagros sitting in the photo above. Caring deeply for this woman, accounting for each detail of her pregnancy, and listening with concern and love.