Her name is Melissa and she is around 23 years old. She studies to become a doctor and speak with her mouth, eyes and hands, the way only Cubans know how to do it.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- She dedicated more than 100 of her days, to the inquiry at the La Loma neighborhood, in this city. "It was our task, for that we are studying, to always help people." She says it while smiling and perhaps it is the determination she wears that disarms me.

So my questions about the sun, the mask, postponing the third year of the major from the usual curricular perspective and everything else, were postponed.

It seems, however, that she guessed them. “Look, it was difficult. I am not going to deny you, especially because we had to climb many stairs on Calle 60. And I assure you, with the greatest sincerity that I am capable of, that I feel very satisfied because it is very gratifying.”

“In the midst of this situation, medical science students have been truly helpful. People need to feel safe and when we knocked on the door, greeted them, worried about how they are, if they have a fever, it has given them security.

“They received us with great appreciation because they feel that we are all concerned about health full time. That is worth a lot. And we did it well, with commitment. That nobody doubts it."

I do not have a single photo to accompany these lines, because it was a chance meeting. Melissa is just one, among the 3,075 students in white coats who were on the streets in Las Tunas, facing the COVID-19, from the first signs. Without a blemish.