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Dr. Marilyn Garcia, a psychologist on Project HOPE's medical team in Tulcán, Ecuador, leads a group therapy session for migrants in May 2024. Photo by James Buck, Project HOPE, courtesy of Church News.All rights reserved.This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media.
By Aimee Cobabe, Church News
Donations from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are helping migrants in South America get the medical care they need, including urgent mental health care.
Dr. Marilyn Garcia is working with families in Ecuador to help them deal with uncertainty.
“Sometimes there are families that may have gone two days without eating, including their children,” she said.
Garcia is a psychologist with Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere), an international global health and humanitarian aid organization.
The Church recently donated $3.4 million to Project HOPE to help improve the health of vulnerable populations in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.
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Dr. Marilyn Garcia in Tulcán, Ecuador, talks with families in May 2024 at a temporary accommodation center. Photo by James Buck, Project HOPE, courtesy of Church News.All rights reserved.Garcia leads mental health sessions for migrants, focused on dealing with anxiety and depression.
“They struggle with uncertainty, so to be able to provide those resources to them and help them, it makes them feel more relaxed,” Garcia said. “It’s like they have more confidence in saying ‘I know what’s the next step that I have to do.’”
Garcia said this work is urgent. Many of the families she works with have fled their home countries due to violence and political instability, according to a news release on projecthope.org.
The UN Refugee agency estimates as many as 25 million people will be displaced from Central and South America this year.
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