Faced with ongoing power outages plaguing Cuba, some women are coming up with innovative ways to tackle everyday chores, such as doing laundry. A recent TikTok video highlights the resourcefulness and determination of a woman who, without access to an electric washing machine due to the lack of electricity, has crafted a homemade method to wash her children's clothes in a bucket.
This "invention," as she calls it, involves a 20-liter bucket filled with water and detergent. She places the clothes inside along with a wooden stick, to which she has attached a plastic bottle with holes to create water movement. The woman repeatedly pushes the stick against the clothes, mimicking the action of a traditional washing machine.
The task is physically demanding and requires significant patience and strength. Despite the exhaustion from this manual labor, she asserts that she has no other choice to keep her family's clothes clean amidst the frequent blackouts.
The video serves as a stark reminder of the challenges many women face in the country. In addition to the scarcity of basic goods, they now have to devise solutions for the simplest tasks due to power outages lasting up to 23 hours in some areas. Dubbed the "new Cuban washing machine," this method also highlights the resilience of Cuban women.
In footage from Guantánamo following Hurricane Oscar's impact 15 days ago, other images showed women washing piles of clothes in a river, reminiscent of the methods used by their great-grandmothers.