"Being able to study again has dignified me"

29/03/2022

You're born in Colombia, tell us a little about your life there before you leave.

I lived and grew up with my parents and brothers in Bogota until three years ago, when I came to live here in Spain. In Colombia I studied Medicine at the Juan N. Corpas Foundation University thanks to the efforts of my parents. Just when I finished my boarding school, several difficult things happened in my family environment that caused me to decide to migrate in the search for opportunities that were not given to me in my country. I came to Spain to visit an uncle of mine from the ignorance of what it means to migrate.

Have you come to work here as a doctor?

No. Here I arrived without the approval of my degree. When I left I knew it would take some time to regularize and have all the documentation. And just then the pandemic began. At that time I was in Barcelona alone and I could not return to my country for various reasons. I started to have a lot of jobs that have nothing to do with my profession. I applied for asylum because of the situation in my country and after six months I obtained a work permit. I started working in a nursing home for the elderly as a gericultor. It was something new and shocking, but it has helped me to value many things, they have dignified me as a person. I started from scratch and I've been climbing, but there I put myself in the place of the users of the residence. It was a very different experience from what I had done in Colombia as a doctor.

What happened during lockdown?

At the nursing home I became infected with COVID and had pneumonia. At the time I was very lonely. I spent it in a room without closed ventilation for almost 40 days, I lived with a family that rented me a room and did not leave so as not to infect them. I didn't want to be admitted to hospital because I didn't want to be with the total stress that was going on there at the time, and I asked to go home. It was very hard, but at the residence they helped me and I medicated myself. Thanks also to my religious faith I managed to overcome it.

How has the covid health crisis been experienced in your country?

This pandemic was experienced very differently there than here, it has also generated a social crisis. There the effort cannot be limited to an illness, for example, there was no strict confinement because it cannot stop coming out. People have to work because otherwise they don't survive.

In September 2020 you entered the UAB Welcome programme, how did you achieve it and what was the most difficult?

Before the pandemic, I had started to look for information about aids to study. Then I found the FAS Welcome program. When I saw that they responded to my request for me it was a great joy, to have for the first time in as long an opportunity after so many adversities. Going back to studying and continuing filled me with enthusiasm because it was being a difficult situation after the panorama I had experienced in my country. Under various circumstances, I was denied asylum shortly afterwards. That was another hurdle. I had legal support and was guided to build my path of regularization and rooting. Being able to study again has dignified me a lot. It is true that it has been an experience in which I have had to fight, but now over time I see that you can.

Tell us about your current studies.

I applied for the Official Master's Degree in Applied Clinical Research in Health Sciences. The classes were virtual, but I went to The Sant Pau Hospital. When I saw that I was in a hospital I was very happy because it allowed me to interact with people directly from the medical world, related to my studies. Dr. Gerard Urrutia and Dr. Xavier Bonfill, the coordinators of the center, welcomed me and gave me superior support to the academic. I was able to deepen my studies because I was able to do several courses and there were many opportunities they gave me.

And the internship you're doing.

The internship was in the project "Living Evidence to inform health decisions". It is a methodological project in which we work to maintain the evidence of results and evidence that later serve for the decision-making of health professionals. Participating in this project empowered me.

What do you think are the challenges of research in the field of health?

For me the main challenge is dissemination, that the results of the investigations reach pharmacies and the general population. That they do not remain in research and marketing, but rather that they reach the decisions of governments and people. I would like the public to take over their own health. Another challenge is funding, more resources need to be supported in research.

From your experience of migration, how are you seeing this new war and changing refugee protection policies?

When the rumours of the start of a new war came, I wondered to myself how it is possible that we have made this effort to save ourselves from the death of a virus and now we are killing ourselves. The greatest virus we have is that of someone who does not have the sanity to think of others. When I think about refugees, I know how hard it is to get rid of everything and leave your country for whatever cause. I hope that together we can ensure that these refugees can dignify their situation and make their lives better.

How do you want your professional future to be?

I want to continue studying and I would like to be able to work to educate and disseminate research to make them closer to the population.