Mai Milan, a volunteer with heart
By Krishna Villena November 28, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

The petite woman with deep blue eyes smiles as she enters her classroom at the Biblioteca Pública. The eager young students can’t stop calling her name: “Mai, Mai! Can we start the class?”

The popular teacher is Mai Milan, a San Miguel resident and volunteer English teacher. She spoke to Atención’s Krishna Villena about how much she enjoys what she is doing.

Krishna Villena: Where did you work before you moved to San Miguel?

Mai Milan: I spent 26 years with the Tennessee Army National Guard as an administrator.

KG: Why did you decide to come to San Miguel? 

MM: When I retired, my sister asked me what I was going to do next and suggested that I move to San Miguel because she was already living here. So I sold everything I had and arrived here with three suitcases and my little dog in November 2002.

KG: And how did you start teaching as a volunteer at the Biblioteca?

MM: After my dog was killed in an accident in 2004 I grieved for six months. 

One day I saw an ad on the board at the Biblioteca asking for volunteers to teach English classes. I said to myself, Why not? Let’s give it a try. I’m starting my fourth year, and it has been wonderful.

KG: Do you think this experience changed your life in any way? 

MM: I think God closed a door in one place and opened another one with the children. They came to my home last year when I had decided to quit teaching and asked me to come back. I could never say no to the children. I have had the same children in my classes for almost four years at the Biblioteca.

KG: Do you have a special teaching method?

MM: You have to use some Spanish. Even though I have taken Spanish classes I continue learning from my students because they correct me. If they don’t understand something in English I rephrase it using words they might recognize and that seems to work.

KG: I understand you teach English to the police department also.

MM: Recently I had a phone call from one of my friends in Colonia San Antonio. He told me he had met with the police commissioner and asked him what we could do to improve our neighborhood. The police commissioner said that teaching the officers English would be helpful, so my friend asked me to do it because he knows I love teaching. We’ve completed four weeks of classes now.

KG: Are there other volunteer teachers?

MM: Yes, we have class five times a week and we rotate. I generally teach twice a week in the police department. There are two teachers per day. We all use the same lesson plans approved by the commissioner. We’re teaching basic phrases: I need help, where do you live?, do you need an ambulance?, calm down, are you hurt?, who can we call? We divide the groups in half. The police department provides the transportation for us. 

KG: Are you always so enthusiastic about teaching?

MM: I tell my friends if I ever win the lottery I’ll open a school and live upstairs. I love teaching and seeing the children’s smiles. No matter how tired I am, or if I feel a little down, when I walk into the classroom it vanishes.

My neighbors laugh because they say I float on clouds. The students lift my spirits; they are eager to be here and I feel that love. I’d like to see English education expanded to hotels, restaurants, tourist sites, traffic officers and taxi drivers.

KG: That would be ideal. Do you have any notion how to accomplish that?

MM: I wish that more people in San Miguel would give two or three hours a week. I volunteer five hours a week–that is nothing considering the beauty we derive from living in such a peaceful country! I always thank God for living in Mexico.

One of the good things I’ve learned here is to slow down, live in the moment and do what you can for those around you. It doesn’t cost anything. My classes are free, yet I am the one who’s benefiting more. I live in so much peace. I’m retired and I love what I am doing now.

Building hope, one house at a time
By Jean Gerber; Photos by Holly Wilmeth

Emiliana Reyes Boca Negra currently lives in a tiny corrugated metal structure on the small lot that the family owns in Ejido de Tirado with her three children: a daughter, 18, a son, 13, and her one-year-old baby.

Casita Linda just bestowed upon her the gift of a beautiful little adobe home.

Emiliana left her parents’ ranch near Guanajuato and came to San Miguel in search of work. She came alone a few years ago, leaving two children behind with her mother. Emiliana found work as a maid in a foreigner’s home and eventually was able to bring her children to live with her. She was determined to have schooling for them and slowly was able to achieve that goal. A year ago, Emiliana became pregnant and her oldest daughter had to drop out of school before finishing her last year, to take a job to support the family.

Casita Linda came to them through the community leaders and, after assessing the situation, began building them a house.

Emiliana will be able to have her three sisters and a two-year-old niece come live with her in this house for a total of eight people. They can then combine their incomes and share expenses and child care. Emiliana’s oldest daughter will be able to return to school.

When we asked Emiliana what the home means to her, she said, “I only worked during the day because I always worry about leaving the children alone. This house will change everything for us. It will be a safe place for my children and having all my sisters come to live with me will only bring more warmth to the home and make all our lives better.” She then went on to say, “My children are all that I have and I value them so very much. This home means I am able to slowly give them the life they deserve.”

We truly believe that our purpose, to alter the destiny of poverty, again is being achieved, one house at a time.

Emiliana and her family are working hand-in-hand with the Casita Linda volunteers to finish their casita and a strong bond is being formed. We are so excited to be able to help this warm and wonderful family.

Casita Linda is dependent on donations to fund our efforts and all donations go to the casita construction; there are no administrative overheads. These are difficult times but we implore you to give whatever is comfortable for you so we can continue to help our neighbors who are living in extreme poverty.

The website, www.casitalinda.org, was updated recently with information on history, method, photos and donations. For further information, call Executive Director Jean Gerber of Casita Linda at 154-9446 or email jean@casitalinda.org.  

Ambassador Garza opens new consulate 

In Mexico City on November 14, US Ambassador Antonio Garza announced, “Today I inaugurated the long-awaited new Consulate General in Ciudad Juarez on the site where we first broke ground in March of 2006. I would like to recognize Consul General Ray McGrath and everyone who worked so diligently to complete this project. Building a state-of-the-art facility in Ciudad Juarez was long overdue recognition of the importance of the work accomplished there, as well as the volume of people served by the consulate.”

Ciudad Juarez is the world’s largest immigrant visa processing center. Go to http://mexico.usembassy.gov/eng/
Ambassador/eA081114CiudadJuarez.html  to read the entire text. 

San Miguel emergency-care model
By Robin Loving Rowland

Open House
Tue, Dec 16, 3–6pm
PACE-MedSpanish Center
Meson de San Jose
Mesones 38 

Dr. Haywood Hall and Ulises Patlan demonstrate the ABCs of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and ACLS techniques: securing the Airway, assuring Breath and promoting Circulation.

Dr. Haywood Hall of San Miguel was recently recognized as a Hero of Emergency Medicine by the American College of Emergency Physicians. He is founding director of Pan American Collaborative Emergency Medicine Development (PACEMD) and MedSpanish in San Miguel, is an Ashoka Fellow and has been recognized as a medical social entrepreneur.

Dr. Hall is a rare entity in San Miguel, or anywhere. Of African American, Jewish and Creek Indian descent, he was raised in the fifties in Mexico because the civil rights views of his parents were not very welcome in the US McCarthy era.

When his parents divorced, he moved to the US and found he didn’t actually seem to fit anywhere. He dropped out of high school and worked as a meter reader, a musician and a New York City taxi driver. “While reading meters in a hospital, I realized I was wasting my life,” says Hall, “and so I got my GED and went to medical school in Houston, in part because it brought me closer to Mexico again.”

There he reclaimed his Spanish and then went to New Mexico to train as a dual specialist in internal and emergency medicine. The state was “much more like Mexico, culturally, than Houston,” he says. In New Mexico, he developed a strong interest in public, rural and border health and how to bring emergency care to out-of-the-way places.

“Clearly, my purpose in life is to help Mexico develop a better quality of emergency care,” he realized. That was 12 years ago and driven by the gift of multiculturalism (“I can work where others can’t,” he says, “and make it work for everyone.”), he now works on his mission to ensure that emergency health care providers can maximize their impact as early as possible in Mexico and Latin America. “Nobody is more impoverished than someone—rich or poor—who needs emergency care and can’t get it,” Dr. Hall says.

“Once you know how to keep people from suffering, you feel you have to do it,” he says, “and once you’re tired, you feel you have to train others to do it.” So, Dr. Hall provides a kaleidoscope of services.

As a clinical emergency physician, Hall has treated more than 60,000 patients in his 20-year career in settings from rural to high-level trauma centers.

He responded to the World Trade Center attack as part of a US federal disaster team.

Hall and his San Miguel team provide community-based training in emergency medicine in Mexico and Latin America, including the American Heart Association’s Basic and Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Basic and Advanced Life Support for Obstetrics and various trauma courses at all provider levels, from midwives to physicians.

Through conference organization and presentations, Hall is an advocate for border health and international medicine, working with the Red Cross and the International Federation of Emergency Medicine.

Teachers in Hall’s immersion Spanish program here for medical professionals have provided culturally sensitive training to more than 450 people from the US and Canada.


Hall’s vision is for everyone to receive the best possible emergency care even under austere conditions. That’s a huge vision, since 95 percent of people will need emergency care in their lifetimes. “Basic emergency care is more about knowledge and systems development than technology,” he says.

Effective care is a social benefit, for appropriate intervention to care for life and limb can yield a more productive life for the recipient, rather than possible death and disability, which causes family and community disruption.

With such a personal and professional mandate, Hall has an immediate goal: to invite colleagues, helpers and volunteers, regardless of background or training, to help him develop emergency care in San Miguel as a model for Mexico and Latin America. “Because of the expat community,” says Hall, “San Miguel is well poised to improve emergency care in its community by expecting a higher level of care, systems development and training.” About 60 local ambulance and emergency medical technicians (EMTs), nurses and doctors could be trained as providers and instructors. “There is no place better than the PACE-MedSpanish Center to provide the community-based, externally validated training for its emergency and general medical community,” says Hall.

The San Miguel community also could develop a fund to support key providers (clinical educators) at the emergency medical services (EMS) level and in emergency departments. “This would be a small investment for a community such as ours,” says Hall. “The community has to expect a higher standard and to get involved.”

For more information, contact Robin Loving Rowland at robin@robinloving.com,  152-3709 in San Miguel or (925) 418-8003 in the US.

Making Christmas wishes come true for the Casa Hogar kids
By Leonardo Rosen

As in previous years, Susan Sargeant and La Conexión seek donations and volunteers for the Christmas Wishes Fund shopping spree with the children of San Miguel’s three Casas Hogares: Don Bosco (girls), Santa Julia (girls) and Mexiquito (boys). In this program, the children pick out their own Christmas presents while in the care and supervision of volunteer adults who serve as their family for the day.

Some newcomers may not know about the kids in the three Casa Hogar homes. They cannot live with their families or have no families. They come from conditions of poverty and family dysfunction. Many are the victims of abuse and neglect, and for this reason, many were placed in a Casa Hogar by a government agency. Now, they are finally in a safe haven where they can learn to feel good about themselves. 

How does it work? People can give money donations, so that each of 83 children can have 500 pesos to purchase gifts. Many buy clothing and other needed items. As of this writing, 16,500 pesos have been collected. Thus, 25,000 pesos more are needed to reach the campaign goal of 41,500 pesos. Even with the current financial crush, people are being generous, as they have in all the previous years of this program. This is very deeply appreciated.

People can be volunteer chaperones to go shopping with the children, whether or not they are able to make a 

monetary donation. We need your time. The children must be supervised and they love the company of their “family for a day.” A well-established system matches you up with a child or children. Dates, times and places for picking up and returning the children are carefully explained. You’ll have a great experience with the kids!

Dates and times for shopping with the kids can be arranged during the entire month of December and up through and even past Three Kings Day (January 6), if necessary.

Donations are gratefully received on any workday. To make a donation and/or sign up as a volunteer chaperone, go to La Conexión, Aldama 3, or call Susan at 152-1599 or 152-1687.

Bob Allen has graciously donated 83 knapsacks, so that each child will be able carry Christmas goodies and, later, schoolbooks in style. Muchas gracias, Bob.

We give thanks for all efforts in the San Miguel community to make Christmas bright for the Casa Hogar kids.

The monthly sale in benefit for ALMA, home for the elderly is this weekend. November 29, Saturday, at the Residence for seniors in CJN Lejona...5 short blocks behind the new Mega Store, turn left at the blue clinic picket fence,up one block and turn right and there we are!! Bring your friends and have a great day shopping and visiting. Great bargains and lots of good stuff: Lots of clothing, men, women and kids, shoes, nic nacs, paintings, kitchen wear including coffee pots, electronic things, Hundreds of books, bedding, jewellery, a fridge, 2 metal single beds, and much more. The special this sale is womens blouses and skirts at 5 pesos each...you cant beat that!! Help us help the seniors and take a tour of the facility if you like. guests this time are the young folk from the high school in Los Rodriguez who are learning to cook and will bring some of their delicious candies for sale. Doors open 10am and close at 1pm.