Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Guilherme Coelho

  • The silence of Dona Zefa

    Guilherme CoelhoSão Paulo, Brazil Josefa Maria do Carmo—Dona Zefa to everyone—was the kind of woman you knew before you met her. The whole favela spoke of her like a patron saint: with respect, affection, and a reasonable fear of not wanting to disappoint her. Seventy-two years old, the widow of Seu Agenor, she was mother…