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ALFREDO AZCÁRATE VARELA
THE BAJA POST/EDITOR
Due to the arrival of a huge amount of Haitian migrants, Mexicali City Council, through the Family Development System (DIF) has been taking care and providing them with the necessary support, for which, among other things, it has been looking after 28 pregnant women at the Melchor Ocampo Shelter; however, it is estimated that there are around fifty Haitian women expecting babies, in Mexicali.
It is important to give them shelter and help those who have decided to stay in Mexicali, aiming to find a job in some of the city´s maquiladora factories or commerce, instead of trying to cross to the United States or to go back to their native country, said Mexicali Mayor Norma Bustamante, who has also comennted about many Haitians who are already employed and have been having a hard time finding homes to rent.
Following Mayor Bustamante instructions, DIF Mexicali works hard to provide care and protection to immigrants, so they set up the Melchor Ocampo Shelter, intending to take care of pregnant Haitian immigrants.
DIF Mexicali informed that 50 pregnant women are being served in the shelters, in Ocampo´s center there are twenty-eight, who are given medical attention and have an ambulance available for emergency 24 hours a day, likewise, they are provided with a place to sleep and eat, as well as showers and personal hygiene items.
In addition, it offers shelter to 20 other Haitians, most of whom already have a job, they have been “absorved” by the local economy, they can be seen working in many different places such as, phone technology services, restaurants, construction and even starting their own business,
There are also 4 girls and 8 boys, who will soon have a classroom adapted so they can continue studying, this goes to show that these Haitian immigrants have come to work and add up to Mexicali productive sectors.
The Melchor Ocampo Shelter is located on Ayuntamiento Avenue, on the corner with Río Presidio, in the Carbajal sector; doors opened on December 27, aiming to shelter mainly pregnant immigrant women who are in their second and third trimesters of pregnancy.
