By Elket Rodríguez

María Elena Lao Rodríguez endured a long and circuitous journey from persecution in Cuba to an operating room in Mexico. Along the way, she has seen signs of God’s grace.

María trained as a nurse and gained experience in commerce and agriculture. She studied to be a doctor, too, and was just two months shy of earning her M.D. degree. But in 2016, she, her daughter and her grandchildren fled Cuba to escape torture and violence.

She journeyed across almost all of South America and arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border more than a year ago, seeking asylum in the United States.

María’s journey led her to a shelter operated by Red de Albergues para Migrante (the Migrant Shelter Network) and Fellowship Southwest in Palomas, about 100 miles into the desert, west of El Paso/Juarez.

She quickly became an ally of Pastor Rosalío Sosa, who operates the Palomas shelter and 13 others in Juarez. She began providing medical treatment—not only to immigrants living in the shelter, but also to residents of the isolated village—and directing the shelter in Rosalío’s absence.

María is a “gift from God,” because of her service to others, particularly unaccompanied minor children who pass through the Palomas shelter after the U.S. border patrol expels them from the United States, Rosalío stressed. 

Her life changed one day as she washed clothes in the shelter. She experienced severe abdominal pain and bleeding. 

"I asked Rosalío to take me to a gynecologist, because at my age, that bleeding almost always ends in cancer," she recalled. Three days later, in Juarez, she received a dreaded diagnosis—uterine cancer. Fellowship Southwest provided funds for María’s surgery and solicited prayers on her behalf. 

On July 30, María underwent high-risk surgery. "I had a … hysterectomy that lasted three hours," she said. "The doctor risked his career, his prestige and my life, because my internal tissues were very deteriorated."

Two weeks later, she received wonderful news. She is cancer-free.

Now, María is recovering in the Mexico 68 shelter in Juarez—a home-away-from-home for Cuban asylum seekers, also operated by Red de Albergues para Migrante and Fellowship Southwest. She will remain in the city, where she has ready access to health care services, for at least three months. There, the selfless caregiver will receive care from others.  

María does not possess silver or gold, but she has the support of a pastor who prompted her to live for others and then solicited the prayers of FSW’s followers.

“I owe everything to (Rosalío). Without him, I would have died of cancer, ”she acknowledged. "Thanks also to all who prayed for me, who supported me and who were concerned with my surgery."

María noted she never has made a decision without consulting God, to whom she gives glory. But this experience drew her even closer to God, she added.

María is a natural healer and teacher, shaped by challenges, misery, persecution, poverty, marginalization and human evil she has endured. She represents refugees who feel they have no choice but to flee dangerous political systems and immigrants who live with the impossibility of controlling their futures.

María embodies the spirit of immigrants. They are not from “here” or “there,” but along the way, they receive the grace of Jesus, who—like them—walked without having a place to lay his head, lived with the rejection of his own and endured contempt of his neighbors.

As María recuperates, she can see God has returned her compassion for vulnerable people with the love and respect of immigrants who care for her and others who ensured she received the medical treatment she needed.

Elket Rodríguez is an immigrant and refugee advocacy and missions specialist for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Fellowship Southwest. Elket is from Puerto Rico, and María is from Cuba. They are not related.

If you would like to help replenish the fund that operates the shelters and provided medical treatment for María, click here.