Source: AFP
Retired teacher Tesha Martinez and her husband have traded their bustling city home for a new life in Mexico’s first neighborhood project for silver-haired citizens.
It was a decision prompted in part by wariness of retirement and retirement homes in a country whose family culture means relatives have traditionally looked after the elderly.
On a plot of land surrounded by forests and mountains, a group of 30 elderly people built six houses in Malinalco, a quiet tourist town about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Mexico City.
Six of them already live in “La Guancha” — where there are plans to build nine more houses — while the rest come and go but hope to eventually spend the rest of their lives there.
“In my working life I gave and dedicated myself because I got a salary. Now it’s different because it’s a partnership,” said Francisco Vigil, Martinez’s husband.
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Source: AFP
“I learned that giving is much more rewarding than I could have imagined,” said the 61-year-old former auto worker.
Facing a large communal garden and swimming pool, Vigil said the couple wanted their children to have their own lives.
And they themselves want to grow old more comfortably than their parents.
The elderly “never get the care they need — they’re very lonely,” Martinez, 65, said.
Sharing problems
The project was started in 2009 by the social science academic Margarita Maass, with the aim of improving the quality of life of the elderly.
Maass teamed up with acquaintances to buy the plot of land where, years later, its current owners built homes with straw and mud walls.
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They installed solar water heaters for the water, which comes from the rain and a canal fed by rivers.
Source: AFP
They planted mango, mame, orange, guava and lemon trees.
“Cohousing is a very good solution for people who are single,” Maass said.
“People without much money share expenses and people with health problems share a doctor,” he added.
Unlike a nursing home, the group “decides how they want their home, where they want it, how big it is, the people and the financial resources,” Maas said.
The concept of cohousing emerged in Denmark in the 1960s and has since spread to other countries.
There are a dozen such projects in Mexico, where children have traditionally assumed much of the responsibility for caring for the elderly.
It’s a trend that could continue because of the aging population in the country of about 129 million.
While Mexico is still a relatively new country, the percentage of the population aged 60 and over increased from 12.3 percent to 14.7 percent between 2018 and 2023, according to official data.
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Source: AFP
The fertility rate meanwhile fell from 2.07 to 1.60 children per woman on average.
Juan Manuel, a 20-year-old student, is among those who do not plan to have children.
She worries about not having “enough support or a place to live” when she grows up.
Maass believes co-op housing could be the answer.
He recalled a resident who had Alzheimer’s disease and enjoyed his time at “La Guancha” playing dominoes, watching movies or swimming.
Martinez also tried to integrate herself into the local community in Malinalco, where about two-thirds of the people live in poverty.
She teaches English and participates in a pottery workshop — all part of what she calls her “new life” among friends.
Source: AFP
