Peasant Women: Seeds of Creation

Virtuous, tenacious, fertile, females take a leading role in social, economic and political advances in rural areas of the capital

By: Ricardo. R. Gómez Rodríguez rrgomez@enet.cu

– Look at that … I have not seen an oven for a while! Said the newcomer.

The children who guarded the stove dressed in campaign uniforms, rehearsed in chorus: – One, two and three. We take care of a coal furnace. Coal is used …

Above, a grove of mangoes that protected hammocks, armchairs out of palm trunks, rustic tables where they showed crafts.

Pioneering explorers make hammocks and charcoal ovens. Photo: Ricardo R. Gómez

Everything was part of the integrated exhibition to the Provincial Workshop of the Brigades of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) and the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), in the province of Havana.

The countryside, host of the meeting, belongs to the Abel Santamaría Credit Services Cooperative (CCS), in the municipality of Boyeros, in the southern part of the city. Representatives of the more than two thousand 200 females incorporated to that force in 88 base organizations of the capital gathered there.

Many of them are peasant leaders, other leaders and also mothers who instruct the new generations and their communities in their own agricultural work.

There I met Arelia Lugo Naranjo, a gray-haired, petite woman, whom I did not dare to ask her age, because vivacious and clever people can be as old as they want. Nobody is going to discuss them.

She promotes at the Orlando Cuellar CCS, in the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo, talks about public health, weaving workshops, still life and also teaches how to make organic fertilizers and dry condiments.

The prominence of the females grew in the last stage in the province of Havana in this sector. Today, some 260 are leaders of the ANAP at different levels, 63 percent of the total cadres of the province.

But the most important thing is the imprint they leave on social prevention, the incorporation of young people to work, the promotion of health and eating habits, and the promotion of handicraft and craft workshops.

They transmit to their children a love for the land and teach them secrets learned from their grandparents in the farming and care of animals.

Precisely those achievements stood out in the exchange, Mercedes López Acea, Member of the Political Bureau and First Secretary of the Party in the capital.

The also Vice President of the State Council, recalled the role played by women in the epic for independence from the bush, the clandestine struggle, in the assaults on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, in the Rebel Army.

Lopez Acea pointed out that the Revolution means a lot to this sector because it gave them the right to be recognized, valued, but above all, it gave them the opportunity to contribute the best as mothers, wives, workers, peasants, as human beings.

He assured that they are present in each work, of which they feel proud.

Translated by ESTI