The Meaning of Health - Ayuujk (Mixe)

This message combines a definition of what it means to be healthy from the indigenous community’s perspective and how fear interferes with our decision making.

"To the general public, today, we want to communicate about health and staying healthy. When we are healthy and when we feel healthy and strong. When we can eat and drink without difficulty, without worrying about having any illness, we don't have to go to the doctors for medication. When we are healthy, when our body is well without suffering from any disease, we are keeping ourselves healthy. The person in good health is the one who does not have ailments. Their feet and hands are healthy to carry out activities anywhere and they are not worried about any illness. They do not have to suffer the pain of any illness and are able to live together fully with their people. There are people who enter into a series of concerns that do not leave them calm and they are not happy. We also want to tell you that the person who is worried is so because he is not healthy. Each person has a different environment and different thoughts. In rural communities there is more space to live, not like in the city where there is a massive concentration of people. For example in this city, where there are buildings with very small rooms and people live practically locked up. When the pandemic was at its peak, many of us lived locked up and didn't go out, because there were no spaces where we could do outdoor activities like in our communities where we can go get firewood, or go to our fields, or walk on the land. Instead, here, you just enter the building and you are totally locked up and the lockdown itself generates anxiety. Sometimes, one is afraid of hospitals and so people do not want to go to hospitals. There is also mistrust towards health personnel when they do not give information well, or when they don’t explain the details of what they are giving us, or how they are curing us. The concern enters, that there may be adverse effects that could aggravate the condition when you go to them. It is known that many times people also die in the hospital when they put their faith in it. There are diseases that do have a cure, there are also diseases that have no remedy and can cause death, and there are common diseases. Many people can heal, but people's fear is always that they will not be well cared for or informed, or that they lack resources to pay for hospital services, which are not within the reach of our pockets and that they have that quality, to be able to heal the disease; and once again lead a healthy life. But there is no need to worry, it is always good to be informed. For example, the vaccines for Covid-19 helped us a lot to contain the pandemic and there are no longer as many deaths. But the virus is still present and there is fear. There are people who doubt the coronavirus and the vaccine. That is why it is advisable to be well informed about people’s opinions. We are also obliged to clarify our doubts and to find out about the efficacy of a medicine and to know if it is effective, or not."

Видео The Meaning of Health - Ayuujk (Mixe) канала Endangered Language Alliance