{"id":313182,"date":"2024-11-15T18:03:15","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T23:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=313182"},"modified":"2024-11-15T18:03:15","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T23:03:15","slug":"elderly-women-and-emigration-who-cares-for-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/society-cuba\/gender-in-cuba\/elderly-women-and-emigration-who-cares-for-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Elderly women and emigration: who cares for them?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rosario<\/span>1<\/span><\/sup> knew what was coming. She stared at the painting, which she knew by heart, and thought of her daughter, her son-in-law, her two grandchildren.\u2026 She stood still and waited. Her muscles tensed and the jolts threw her from the sofa to the floor. All the time she was aware of the spasms, the gasps, and the dull thud of the bony body against the floor. When the crisis ended, she looked at the painting again and breathed a sigh of relief: all she wanted was to live a little longer to hug her family again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rosario\u2019s passion was always teaching, but at 73, retired with a pension of 1,578 CUP per month (equivalent to about 5 USD), she finds no motivation to continue. In addition to epilepsy, she suffers from other illnesses. She avoids leaving the house and asks for very little help from her neighbors. She does not want to bother those she knows, and she fears others: the stories of violence are too alarming to open the door to strangers.<\/span><\/p>\n

She could not explain why she clicked on the link and began to read my questionnaire, with which I proposed to learn about the experiences of elderly women who have been left alone in Cuba or in the care of dependent relatives.<\/span>2<\/span> Perhaps she felt she could pour her heart out by answering my questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy life changed completely after my daughter left for the United States three years ago. I am hit by sadness, loneliness, abandonment, emptiness, and pain,\u201d\u00a0 Rosario confesses through WhatsApp, her almost exclusive means of communication. \u201cI went to my polyclinic three times and the oncologist did not come. After my daughter left, I was admitted to the Day Hospital (psychiatric service) for three months, but even with suicidal thoughts, I was discharged. I am not able to face life or take care of myself. I am not healthy enough to keep the house clean, or go out for food, which some neighbors pick up for me,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The empty nest<\/b><\/p>\n

Most of the 66 women surveyed have a high level of education: 74.2% reached higher education and 22.7% finished high school. However, one thing they all have in common is that, after retirement and the emigration of children or grandchildren, they feel unmotivated to start personal projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mar\u00eda del Carmen L\u00f3pez, a geologist, university professor, and researcher, now retired, does not deny it: the only strategy to deal with her emotional state is her visit to a psychiatrist and when friends come to visit her. \u201cI am always saddened by the absence of my daughter, who helped me with my health problems because she is a doctor. I have tried to manage my emotions, but I have fallen into a deep depression,\u201d this woman from Cienfuegos says. \u201cMy illnesses (occipital neuralgia, chronic neuropathic pain in the pelvic floor, neurological problems, and anxiety) have become worse. The only thing that makes me happy are the calls from my grandson and my daughter, who cannot talk much on the phone because of her work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Although she lives with her husband and son, Mar\u00eda del Carmen feels that she cannot handle her share of domestic responsibilities, because her emotional state and illnesses limit her: \u201cI think my son will also go to Brazil. I wonder who will take care of us when the time comes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Like her daughter, most of those who have emigrated from Cuba in recent times have done so due to the crisis, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, although the motivations are as diverse as there are personal contexts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The United States has recorded <\/span>the entry of 850,000 migrants from the island since 2022<\/span><\/a>, according to figures published this year by that country\u2019s Customs and Border Protection (CBP). However, in that period, Cubans have also emigrated to other nations in recent years, including Spain, Mexico, Canada, Italy, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil.<\/span><\/p>\n

The National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), in its Demographic Indicators (July 2024), published that the country\u2019s migration balance between 2021 and 2023 is estimated at <\/span>more than 1 million people.<\/b><\/a> In the same period, <\/span>the working-age population decreased by 121,600, according to official data.<\/b><\/a>\u00a0 In 2023, it was reported that <\/span>almost a fifth of the Cuban population (more than 2 million people) was 60 years of age or older.\u00a0<\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A survey conducted for this report, via WhatsApp, among 32 Cuban emigrants, revealed that 83.9% considered it \u201ca lot\u201d to leave their parents and grandparents in Cuba before emigrating, but did not find another way to improve their economic situation. Only 9.7% said that leaving their elders behind did not affect their decision, since \u201cthey had already made their lives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The elderly who remained in Cuba were, for the most part, the mothers of the people surveyed (62.5%), followed by grandmothers (56.3%), fathers (50%) and grandfathers (25%). The destinations of these emigrants included the United States, Mexico, Germany, the Congo and Chile.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, the survey that we circulated among elderly women with emigrated relatives showed that in 42.4% of the cases, their children were outside the country, while 31.8% said that their entire family resides abroad.<\/span><\/p>\n

Half of the women indicated that it has been more than two years since they said goodbye to their relatives, and it is striking that 47% of the participants said that their emotional situation after their family\u2019s migration is \u201cnegative\u201d or \u201cvery negative.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The participants in the survey summarized their life after the emigration of their loved ones with phrases such as \u201cdeep depression,\u201d \u201cimmense emptiness\u201d and \u201cconstant longing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Caring for those who care<\/b><\/p>\n

The crisis imposes physical and emotional strain, especially on people with few resources (most of the population), who face high prices for basic goods and services, in addition to <\/span>the lack of medicines in the pharmacy network<\/b><\/a>. Many depend on money or food packages sent to them by relatives from abroad. This causes emotions to be ambivalent: on the one hand, they are happy about the economic improvement and the new opportunities for those who emigrate; and on the other, they recognize the emotional lack of protection they feel, especially at advanced ages.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the last part of the form, we invited women to anonymously share some relevant details of their situation and experiences, resulting in moving testimonies:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThousands of elderly people have been left to self-finance ourselves when a carton of eggs costs 5,000 CUP and the blister of the medicine I need costs between 1,000 and 2,000 CUP on the street. My pension is only 1,500.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn-person help is very important. Those who emigrate often make up for this lack with money or other material things and do not worry about constant and true communication.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe elderly\u2019s lack of quality of life accelerates the aging process and the state of helplessness. If we had a dignified pension, optimal and real access to medicines, preferential access to quality public services, and effective social security, we could go through old age in better emotional and physical condition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Stress and the feeling of vulnerability cause profound psychological effects on the elderly. Such factors accelerate the deterioration of their quality of life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Loneliness and overload<\/b><\/p>\n

Mar\u00eda Teresa Hidalgo, a second-degree specialist in geriatrics and gerontology and head of the Luc\u00eda \u00cd\u00f1iguez Clinical-Surgical Hospital in the province of Holgu\u00edn, assured <\/span>OnCuba<\/b> that migration has had a significant (and negative) impact on the psychological health of the elderly in recent decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the specialist, most women who have been left without the direct physical and emotional support of their children, brothers, or husbands at this stage of life come to the doctor with decompensated chronic illnesses, which have their roots in this separation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hidalgo states that those who are somatically affected by the separation are those who visit her most for depression and chronic illnesses. The most recurrent among the latter are high blood pressure, ischemic heart disease, and diabetes mellitus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The geriatrician also notes that, in her experience, there are examples of women between sixty-five and seventy who have had to devote themselves to caring for relatives, who are sometimes sick. This brings with it an overload.<\/span><\/p>\n

Others have been left to care for grandchildren, at a stage in life when they should no longer have this type of responsibility. This burden, also psychological, makes them more vulnerable to the different illnesses they already suffered from, which is offset by stress.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese women have to make changes in their lifestyle and daily routines due to the separation, which affects their physical and mental health. Of course, not everything is negative: many older patients have adequate functionality. From an economic point of view, they improve significantly and have a quality of life, even if they are alone. Some also stay with other children or with their husband and can lead a life that sometimes improves significantly,\u201d said the doctor.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the majority, women are left to care for children and grandchildren, while facing losses that affect their mental health, although it is important to highlight that the men of the families, faced with new contexts and needs, are also assuming these responsibilities, especially when there is no woman in charge. Migration disrupts homes and generates family conflicts, while remittances improve the quality of life, favoring the coexistence of the pain of absence and the hope of return.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And when they can\u2019t?<\/b><\/p>\n

Two years ago, Jessica Suarez hugged her mother, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, for the last time. She did not want to be overcome by the feeling of anguish, or she would not be able to turn around and board the plane to Tampa with her children and husband after they had been granted <\/span>humanitarian parole<\/span><\/a>. Fifteen months before that, her younger brother had made the same decision, although by a more unsafe route: the so-called <\/span>\u201cvolcano route.\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Cuba: Leaving, staying<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n