Abstract 

A silenced child and her unseen mother 

Not so long ago, during my clinical rotations, I encountered a child and her mother from an 

indigenous community in Colombia. She was a toddler and her mother spoke only her native dialect which made our communication with her a challenge. During the telling of her story, I chose to call the patient a silenced child, a child with no voice, due to her vulnerability and her lack of opinion when it came to decide what was best or worst for her. Her mother, also a vulnerable women, made vulnerable by her culture and her lack of speech, was called, for the purpose of this story, as an unseen or invisible mother. Trying to communicate and explain her situation was difficult and therefore made me realize different components I had not seen before that are essential in the medical profession. This text, therefore, intends to recall the human essence of our practice and also allow us to understand that when it comes to a human decision it cannot always be rational and clear, and it is part of what it means to work with and for human beings.