Doña Domitila Padrón Bermúdez, at 97 years old, affirms that her secret to reaching longevity is "to work and work" in the tasks of the field. She was born in Hoyo del Agua in Tías, her father moved to Mácher in 1933 when she was 10 years old, behind the old hermitage of San Pedro in El Mesón, her new school is close and she resumes her schooling with difficulty with the teacher Doña Dominga. Making use of her prodigious memory, on more than one occasion, in "the gatherings on Sundays after mass" in the Teleclub, she has repeated with great pleasure the entrance and exit songs of the school.
From a young age, she worked in all the tasks of the field, handling all kinds of farm implements, in addition, she took time to sew, embroider and perform other tasks around the house. Her adolescence and youth coincide with the hard times of the Civil War, years of long droughts, she lived closely with hunger and also suffered emigration with her parents and siblings, first to Las Palmas and later to Uruguay.
Domitila, in her deserved recognition on "International Day of Rural Women", relying on the acknowledgments section, on the way to a century of life, at ninety-seven years old, went up to the lectern, oriented the microphone, unfolded her little paper and with all the wisdom, mental lucidity, firmness of voice and pulse, she takes the floor to give a lesson in simplicity, humility and education, virtues of scarce presence in today's society, to subtly talk to us about such burning issues as xenophobia, the abandonment of the countryside, the landscape, politics ("she has seen dictatorships, republics, democracies, kings parade by...", the lack of unity in these times of pandemic, to warn us that it is the time for calm, for scientists... for healthcare workers, for good education... She also told us that: "she prays for this to pass soon" and evidently thanked the "City Council for giving me this tribute, to the family and to her neighbors".
Congratulations and long life Domitila!
Juan Cruz Sepúlveda
