On the cultural and generational change among Mapuche people as Chile’s economy modernizes without them:

In that time, the affection between neighbors, the unity, the visitation, I was able to see that. I saw neighbors of course talking in Mapudungun [Mapuche language].

It’s been a massive change… I was born in the countryside. The poverty— subsistence was very complicated, very difficult. So the young person these days is always looking to emigrate in search of their welfare. And from there, you can bring your family. Why are there so many of my people [Mapuche’s] in Santiago [capital city], for example?

On the questions he faces at the end of his life, and his wish to simply be heard:

I think that for all people who grow old, it is a concern, really: How to live my last names on this earth, at least?

On what it means to be engage:

That I can talk, with young people, express what I feel, be listened to, and listen, too.

On his dream to build a communal home for older adults in Makewe:

I would like to have a community of older adults. Sometimes I dream we’d have a large house with a living room, divided rooms. You could decide to live here. But it’s a dream I have! Sometimes in my mind, like a drawing…

But I would like this, to have a group of older adults who have know each other since we were younger. A challenge to have everyone come, but a few at first. We can help each other, mutually.

Telling an incredible story of his wife, who, while harvesting corn, felt profoundly alone. But then a bird arrived from above…

[My wife] said that she felt so alone, she began to cry bitterly of loneliness. Within the fields of corn. And suddenly, ‘As if I woke up, [she asked herself] ‘And what am I doing? I have my husband who loves me, my kids love me. And I have God here who can help me!’ She said a bird came, singing like in church. ‘And I began to sing!’ And the loneliness departed.

Photos taken by Grace Ellrodt with subjects’ consent.

On the decline in neighborly drop-ins and meals together in the countryside:

Now few people visit one another because each person is fine in their house. Before, no, we visited one another a lot. Now, no. I don’t know what happened, why we’ve enclosed ourselves like this.

His wife agrees, but finds that despite families becoming more insular, no one is left entirely alone. So, she sees little point in creating community spaces:

In the city, everyone’s alone. A single person in a house. Here, that doesn’t happen.

[I ask: Any missing intervention here to reduce loneliness?] No… for me, no. Well, you know what I’d like: If there were a little group that went to visit the very old [literally: “little old people”], help them, that I’d like. But…”

On loneliness as a natural experience, like a sickness to felt and overcome:

It’s natural, this [loneliness]. It’s natural that a person feels alone. There are many people who are alone. You have to realize, gain strength, [knowing] it’s natural. We also have to get sick. And likewise there are medicines to heal yourself. Everything has its time.

On whether he would use traditional or biomedical (Western) medicine to address loneliness, if like a sickness:

Natural remedies, I would use those. But the Macchi [traditional healer]… we don’t partake much. They don’t work cleanly, we say. It’s not right with God above, because [they work with] images [of other powers.] And I don’t like that.

On Christianity as a loneliness antidote: Both because it gives him a higher power to connect with, and it gathers neighbors together in prayer.

The creator of above, he is with you every day. And he is the one who cares for you at night. So, one cannot feel too alone.