Malnutrition and loneliness

Chapter Three: Women and their daily life

11. Malnutrition and loneliness

The woman was going to buy a handful of greens for her meal because she is very poor and can’t afford to buy other foods such as carbohydrates. She is very malnourished because she doesn’t get enough vitamins and, since she is very elderly, she has already endured a lot of illness.

If she had had more children, perhaps one of them would have taken care of her, but since she hasn’t had anyone, the old woman does what she can all alone to take care of herself. The first husband she had died from an illness. After three years, she found her second husband. He died and so once again, she was left as a widow. That was many years ago. Now she lives all by herself.

She lived through the war. She was younger then, because now she is very elderly. She was very frightened because she never thought that the war would reach the town of Chajul. She used to listen to everything that was happening, but she would just stay shut up inside her house when the ambushes or the killings in the town were taking place.

She has always worn the old traditional traje of her ancestors, a white huipil without embroidery and earrings with large coins. Nowadays the huipiles are more ornate and have different colors, and people today hardly ever wear the trajes of old .