Alicia Adolfina Meneses León is a tireless woman who, despite her 86 years of age, shows plenty of energy to develop, not only in household chores, but also in other complicated tasks.

When she was very young, she came to Morón with her foster mother, because she was born in the Barroso batey, near Júcaro, the daughter of foreign parents: her father was Haitian and her mother Dominican. «And me, cubanita, cubanita,» she says jokingly.

Since she was only thirteen years old, Alicia has been involved in work and is grateful for the arrival at her home of a young literacy teacher from Camagüey, Rafael Pérez, who taught her to read and write during the 1961 campaign.

She confesses that this allowed her to broaden her work horizons, as in 1968 she joined a military unit as a civilian worker, where she remained until 1970 as a cook. She stops here and says: «I want to tell you that my hobby is cooking, because I enjoy being in front of the cooker», she is above all a specialist in roasts, her dishes are exquisite, according to her neighbours.

Alicia worked as a cook in a road brigade and says that «we were everywhere». She also washed clothes, ironed and did everything that came along for this group.

She worked in a construction micro-brigade and was thus able to have her own house in the La Victoria neighbourhood, where she currently lives, but she also cut cane, wiped sugar cane and did many other agricultural tasks, demonstrating the strength of the female force.

Alicia has been a messenger for 25 years, bringing food from the bodega to no less than 32 families.

«I am as popular as any renowned artist, and that makes me feel very happy», says Alicia Adolfina.

We inquired about her health and she answered without hesitation: «I tell everyone who asks me that I’m fine, that I don’t suffer from anything, but I have a growth in my heart, I suffered a heart attack and a thousand other things, which means that I’ll be in Morón until the Lucecita goes out».