Photos by Nester Nuñez
Photo Feature by Nester Nuñez
HAVANA TIMES – Hilda lives alone in Matanzas, Cuba. She is recovering from a severe intestinal collapse that required the removal of part of her intestine. Months after the surgery, she is still waiting for a second operation that would allow her to regain basic bodily functions. During this prolonged recovery, her body has weakened, and hunger has become a recurring part of her daily life.
The food she receives through social assistance is scarce and nutritionally insufficient. She eats small portions and saves what she can, never knowing when the next moment of hunger will come. Cigarettes, often made from discarded tobacco given by neighbors, become both a habit and a way to suppress appetite and anxiety.
Hilda’s days pass mostly inside her home. Her closest and most constant companions are the cats she feeds, sometimes at the expense of her own meals. Occasional visits from neighbors or members of a local inclusive church provide brief moments of care, food, or medical attention outside the public health system.
In her youth, Hilda faced rejection, persecution, and imprisonment because of her sexual orientation. She chose not to have children, fearing the stigma and suffering that both she and a child would endure in that context. Today, aging, illness, and solitude intersect with a broader reality shared by many elderly people in Cuba: living longer, but with diminishing resources, fragile support networks, and an uncertain future.
This series documents Hilda’s everyday life not as an exception, but as part of a silent and widespread condition, where resilience is built through routine, memory, and small acts of care amid neglect.
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