photo of Mexican man the sierra norte
Mexico
 
GLOSSARY
Mexico glossary

Timiana

(MEXICO 18)

Sex

female

Age

85

Occupation

housewife

Location

Yavesía, Oaxaca

Date

September 1999

 

transcript

The translation of this interview consists of extracts only.

Section 1
Which ones did you have?
First the Liga Feminil (Women’s League) and after that I worked in the DIF (Desarrollo Integral de la Familia, Integral Development of the Family) with Señora Susana. After that I worked with the milk, here with Señora Refugia, I just had three cargos...

...Now one of your sons, well, two or three of your sons have done a lot for the village, being in Mexico City. What do you think about all the fighting that the village has done to look after its land, its territory, the water, the resources that there are up there. The village has been fighting and you have lived through it, what do you think about all the fighting for the conservation of what we have up there?
Well, what they’re doing is good, isn’t it? Looking after it, right? We look after it because it belonged to our grandfathers, right? Because now you can see that they exploit the forest brutally. We don’t because it belonged to our grandfathers, right? They left it for the grandchildren and for their children afterwards, didn’t they? Yes. But who knows what these people [from Lachatao, Amatlán and others] think, that’s why they still enter [Yavesía’s land] and exploit it there, that’s what uncle Chilco said...

.…Do you have any nice memories of when you were young, here in this village? Anything you remember with a lot of happiness, something you participated in, your work, something that you remember well, something nice that has happened to you?
Yes, happy, we were happy when we had a job, and finishing a cargo, finishing, yes. One gets used to a cargo and then when you leave, you always feel sad. In the cargos that we’ve had, we’ve helped the village. I’m grateful to the village for giving us those jobs.
Section 2
....for example, when you are alone, living alone all the time here, what do you do all day; you get up early, at five or six in the morning, and then what do you do?
Well I do my work, what there is to be done here. I do what I can and what I can’t, I don’t.

Do you go to the [corn] mill?
Yes I go to the mill, I have breakfast and do what else there is to do, I leave my [corn] dough. In the afternoon I’ve already made the dough and I’ve got my tortillas (maize-based flat bread) already. I see to the animals and then I go to get firewood and twigs, after that I take a look at my land, I
go to have a quick look, and see if my wall has fallen down, and that’s it. Sometimes I collect some stones and fix the wall a bit. I don’t do it much now. I get a labourer to do it - clearing, I just do a little, like this, I don’t do so much now.

A moment ago you told me that years ago life was hard. How do you see things now with...?
Well, it’s not so hard anymore.

Not anymore?
Not so much.

It’s not hard anymore.
It’s not hard anymore, not anymore.

You don’t walk to sell things anymore.
Not anymore. Before we went to Tlacolula over there, and then we went to Talea, Zoogocho, for the lime [stone]. Yes, we used to go carrying the lime but not anymore, it’s sold right here now, and it’s expensive now. One arroba (12 kilos) is 15 pesos now, 12 pesos the arroba...