Elderly women in Yucatan stand alone against COVID-19

Yucatan is among the states in the country with the highest number of infections and people who have lost their lives due to Covid-19 disease.

However, Mrs. Porfiria Nahuat Cutz, 70 years old, is not intimidated by this threat. She, like many other women in the municipality of Cansahcab, goes out every morning to work to bring sustenance to her home.

Doña Porfiria gets up every day at 4:30 in the morning, takes her working tools and leaves her house to go to the nearby mountains to cut wood, in the company of Doña Minerva Poot and other elderly women in the community.

After the hard work in the woods of the Santa María region, Mrs. Porfiria and her companions still have to carry out the work of selling the firewood to obtain the economic resources that will allow them to feed themselves and their family.

“Despite this contingency, I get up at 4:30 in the morning to cut my firewood and bring it to my house to sell it,” Doña Porfiria stated.

While state authorities decreed a pause in non-essential activities, thousands of people all over the Yucatan have no option but to go out to work, in order to survive in the face of the contingency crisis. Most of these people have not received absolutely any support from the government.

Just like Porfiria Nahuat Cutz, thousands of other women that live in rural communities across the state, have to chop firewood to make a living, despite the fact that their age places them in the vulnerable category.