Justina Temozán Bernal -  interviewed by her granddaughter Yoamaris
She is 85 last birthday, Black, Christian, descendant of Haitians
from a poor family, the youngest of 6 brothers and sisters who lived with their mother in La Curva, in Holguin Province
Out of necessity, to help her mother, she began working at age 8, harvesting coffee beans...
J.  I spent 3 or 4 years harvesting coffee until I got tired of it and started to sell breakfasts.
Y¿¿?? (she could see from my face that I didn't understand.)
J.  Yes, I sold breakfast during harvest time to the sugarcane workers and the coffee pickers; I sold little turnovers, coffee with milk, fried food, and sweets.  I had to get up at 4 in the morning and I finished selling at 9.
Y. Who made those things?  How much $ did you make?
J.  Well, I made them, I went to Cueta and bought butter, flour, fried fish, milk, which used to sell for 10 cents a liter.  I bought coffee in a little envelope that said Oquendo and made coffee with milk with it.  I continued until I was 16, when I was placed (as a servant) in Cueto.
Y. what did that mean - placed?
J.  Wash and iron in the house of people who had more resources than we did.  I washed, ironed, ran errands, and cleaned the house too, all for 6 pesos a month.
Y.  and what could you do with 6 pesos?
J.  Nothing
Y.  What do you mean nothing?  Couldn't you buy clothing and other things?
J.  Yes.  (smiles)  By luck they were very nice to me and gave me many little gifts, but with 6 pesos I really couldn't do much, well back then things were cheaper, you could buy some little article of clothing or shoes, for example  - a pair of shoes cost 1 peso 80 centavos and would last me 6 or 7 months.  I couldn't support myself with this money but my mother helped me out as much as she could, in reality we helped each other - she took care of animals and my brothers cut cane at harvest time and when it wasn't the sugarcane harvest, they went out to the coffee plantations - my older brothers.
Y.  Oh! so your placement was a way of helping out the family's finances?
J.  Yes, but later I asked for 2 hours off every day in the house where I worked and in this time off I learned to sew and embroider with a person who gave private lessons, who charged me 2 pesos a month.  I continued doing this until I learned to sew and embroider and I left my "placement."
Y.  so you began earning  your own money with what you had learned?
J.  Yes, I was 18 already.  I charged very little but made good clothes; I was able to buy my sewing machine on time with 10 pesos down and 5 pesos a month, paying for it with the same money I made sewing.  I still have that sewing machine.  So that's more or less how my life went.
Y.  did you have any direct connection with the revolutionary struggle.
J.  Yes.  Well, not so direct, but it was my contribution.  about 1956 or 57, I don't remember exactly, I lived in La Curva, close to where Fidel Castro lived in Birán.  The rebels passed through there, near my house, my boyfriend was working with them, driving a jeep.  I began to sew armbands with the symbol of the 26th of July Movement.
Y.  Why did you do this?  Was it secret?  Wasn't it dangerous?  Weren't you frightened, being a woman?
J.  They needed them, they asked me and I made them and sent them to the rebels in the mountains.  The police never found out that I did this, they were Batista's people so it was dangerous but I did it.  And I saw being a woman as an advantage because this knowledge of sewing, which the men lacked, was precisely what I could offer as my contribution to what they were doing; it was my share.  Do you understand?
y.  January 1 1959 arrived - where were you then?
J.  At the time of the triumph of the Revolution I was in Cueto, they broadcast the news on the radio, everyone was pleased, I was sewing, everyone with great joy, they started to jump around in the cane plantation, shouting that the revolution had triumphed, that Batista had fled, there was a lot of happiness in the town, really.
Y.  and what did you do?
J.  I?  I was happy because we knew that the war was ending, or rather that it had ended.
Y.  What then would happen in your life?
J.  I knew that my boyfriend would marry me and that we would come here, to Havana, and that's what happened.
J.   After the triumph of the Revolution, I began to study in night school, near my house, in Gertrudis de Avellaneda in Marianao and I was able to get to 6th grade.  I couldn't keep studying because I started my own family, and also cared for other family members who were frequent visitors but I had the chance - many of my companions continued and got to 9th grade and got good jobs.  At that time with 9th grade you qualified for a good job.  Afterwards my economic situation and stability of the family improved.  I'll tell you - my sons grew up, one went to the Soviet Union to study accounting and the other became a tool and die maker and worked in the Central Toledo.  This is my pride as a mother.  I won't tell you about grandchildren because that's another story, right?