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Out of the Darkness Community Walk A Desert of Hope

On Saturday, November 2nd, BCMS participated for the second before dawn for a three-mile walk. Despite a rainy start to the morning,
year in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Out of the the walk saw hundreds of people turn out, including our own BCMS
Darkness Community Walk for San Antonio and South Texas. One of team, consisting of Dr. Fernando Karst; Dr. John Nava; Dr. Mrudula
many such events held across the country, the Community Walks gath- Rao; Paulina Johnson, BCMS Alliance member; and Jacob Hernan-
er together organizations and ordinary people to walk and raise aware- dez, BCMS staff. Also present at the BCMS table was BCMS CEO/
ness of the many lives lost each year to suicide, and the steps that can Executive Director Melody Newsom. At the table, BCMS distributed
be taken on an individual and broader social level to prevent suicide pens and Band-aids to attendees and fielded medical questions.
and engender better mental health. “Teams” consisting of civil soci- A special thanks to all of our team members who attended, and to
ety groups such as BCMS, as well as the family and friends of people WoodmenLife Chapter 4525 for a generous donation that allowed us
who died by suicide, gathered at the Nelson Wolff Municipal Stadium to purchase T-shirts!

Artist’s Note: This photograph, taken in Algeria, in a small town called Sidi Oqba, captures the stark reality of climate change’s impact on
vulnerable populations in the Global South. A farmer is seated with his assortment of wares on a tarp, surrounded by the remnants of plastic
and waste on the sandy desert ground around him. There is a striking irony that lies in the fact that the very material he uses for a makeshift
marketplace — the plastic tarp — is a symbol of one of the many causes of the environmental challenges that are disproportionately and delete-
riously impacting marginalized communities like his around the world, a metaphor for the complex relationships between poverty, livelihoods
and climate change. The uncertainty etched on his face takes on added poignancy as it tells of his tribulations and of the interconnectedness of
environmental degradation and human well-being, both physical and mental. We must all beware of cultivating a desert of hope, of remaining
passively hopeful about our planet’s future, lest our inaction become the arid landscape from whence our children’s future tills.

Ahmed Benchouia

Class of 2027
Long School of Medicine
UT Health San Antonio

36 SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE • December 2024 Visit us at www.bcms.org 37