Nutrition, health and hygiene during the Civil War
How people got their basic needs


Jéssica París Alderete
2º educacion infantil A
CES Don Bosco- Social Science


What would do to eat? That is a question that perhaps none of us have asked, but was present in the times of war and post-civil war. So this research is based on nutrition, hygiene and health, focusing on the study of one of the person who best can explain that, my grandmother Raimunda López Barroso, born in 1932 in the Venta's neighborhood, who lived in oneself the Spanish Civil War of 1936. The Spanish Civil War was a social conflict, political and military took place in Spain between the passing of 17 and 18 of July 1936 and the last part of war signed by Francisco Franco on April 1, 1939. The country suffered a major change, because men had to fight had to lie to women working and caring for the family.

At that time, it was normal the absence of family, death or enlistment in the army. In the case of my grandmother, as she recounts: "My father had just died because of pneumonia, my four brothers were fighting in Huesca and I had to care for my sick mother and my uncle". And at the age of 6 years she left school to take care of household duties and care for sick family members, why she cannot read and write. Given the above, and the economic needs of the family, my grandmother had to start working to feed his family.

Therefore, to eat, was necessary to work. The only work she was able to find was the rag-picker. So she explains me what was her job, her lifestyle. "I had to go door to door with a cart filled of cubes, picking up trash, and separating the different materials such as coal used, which I then sold, the rags to make me clothes and food waste, with which I fed to pigs and chickens had in my yard" she said.

Although they raised the animals to sell them, they could eat those animals? If only it were so easy ... Of all pigs raised, only one could be killed for their own benefit, the rest were sold. And the chickens, they could only take one egg a week for lunch, the rest, were also sold.
So what did they eat? And my grandmother, with a smile on his face, said: "My uncle went every day walk to San Fernando to buy a stick of bread for each, and I went to the black market to buy vegetables and greens to stews ". The menu there was no meat, no chicken, there was nothing. It was based on porridge made ​​from potato peelings. Moreover, to keep the pork, they fried at the time of slaughter, and put them in pots filled with pig's own fat as a preservative.

Therefore I add a very important issue, the drink. Where did they obtain the water? What about milk? And that's where my grandmother puts more emphasis in the telling: "I had to walk three miles to fill buckets of water so they can drink. And if we wanted to drink milk, we had to wait for the goat had babies”. And so it happened every day, with two buckets connected by a rope that was placed on her shoulders.

Leaving aside nutrition, I focus on the hygiene, especially in personal hygiene, which, as my grandmother told me they had to draw water, put it in pans of zinc and make it warm in the sun and thus be able to wash. The soap had to manufacture it themselves, but there was a big problem. "We needed to use oil to make soap, but we could only buy a quart per person each day, so we had to take every drop of oil used to make soap," said my grandmother. Who could say this, with how easy it is to open up the bottle of shower gel and pass the sponge...


And last but not least, since it is the most important issue, the health. Nutrition was based on porridge and potato peelings in the garbage collected, the water was carried in buckets for miles, the hygiene was rudimentary as they could not wash every day, the life was too hard, so is easy to understand that the quality of life was low, especially if we add the deaths on the battlefield. The society was sinking into the mud. There was so much misery. There was no doctor to go if you had not a wad of cash under the mattress. No medicine with which to heal the sick. Before, people were dying from diseases that now are cured with a pill.


Even so, and as a personal conclusion, I must say that for much misery, poverty, sadness ... every person who has experienced that stage. Every story that came out of the mouth of my grandmother, was a bit of her soul, was a memory of her life, it was very hard, but she is proud of having lived it. And I am very proud to have the grandmother I have. And thanks to her, I understand how hard it can become life, and I have to be satisfied to live in these times, that even if they look hard at the end will be better.

nutrition during the Civil War

Esther González Guerrero
2º Infantil A
Social Science

Nutrition during a hard period.

The Civil War and Postwar period in Spain was a poorly period. Most people affected didn’t have money for food and they had to look for ways to get money and food. Civil War was a period between 1936 and 1939 in which the Fascists revolted against the legitimate regime of the republic, and after 3 years of war, Franco and his allies took power. Postwar is the period covered from 1939 to around 51 52, time when the Spanish population is divided into two groups because of the dictatorship, is characterized by the Franco repression and harsh living conditions of the population. The country was destroyed, there was a large number of dead who fought in the war and as many by the Franco’s repression, famine, epidemics, definitely, a country mired in poverty.

Our interviewee lived this difficult period. In addition to the conditions that affected all population lived, she had a serious family situation. She is Raimunda Lopez, Jessica’s grandmother. She was born in 1932 in Ventas (Madrid). She was only 8 years old when Civil War started. She was “trapera” during the civil war and postwar period. She was orphaned of father, his brothers were fighting at war and she owed take care of her ill mother and a disabled uncle. With this essay I pretend to see firsthand the high social and economic impact that this period had in such basic needs as food. We know that whims fell to one side but, what about things really necessary? In this essay will discuss issues such as how they got the food and money, what they ate, if there was any exception at parties or special dates, also talk briefly about the health of these families that they could allowed and we will in a simple way latter what happened in the postwar period . Were better times? Were there changes to this and many other families?

The first thing that we are going to raise is how they obtain the food and money. This family did not have a permanent job or a salary to live, so Raimunda and her uncle looking in the garbage to get things to sell. On the one hand, they went every day from house to house picking up rubbish that people left on the landings. "It was not like now, not pass the garbage truck," Raimunda told us while she talked of that work. They emptied the trash bags into a cart and they took everything that could be useful to sell, eat or use. For example, the old coal, paper and cardboard, glass and rags to sold, and used food scraps to feed the animals. with their animals also drew some money, they sold some pigs, many goats, and eggs from their chickens. With that bought food and other necessities. Raimunda explained that in times of poverty cannot be allowed any luxury, as she said "we could not afford to eat our animals"

The food was, from the actually point of view, monotonous and poor. To eat there was “cocido” and to dinner lentils and beans. Every day there was the same menu. Potatoes, which we use today as a simple companion to any dish, for them it were a luxury. Prices were very high so that the replaced by turnips. Once a week they ate eggs that didn't sell. The oil was selling for primer, fourth a week per person and the same with bread, a small bar a day per person. They went to San Fernando or Torrejon de Ardoz to buy it and kept it in the straw so as not to put hard. With Raimunda just 10 years she was cooking. Her sick mother showed her how to do it from the couch.

The menu didn't change on special days. The holidays such as Christmas or Easter, that we celebrate today eating food in quantity and quality exceptional, for them it was the same as always. "We were on a diet" said Raimunda joking about these hard times. There were two exceptions year in the food of this family. Once a year, they slaughtered a pig for his own food. As they hadn't got fridges they fried all beef and kept in clay pots holding it with pig's own fat. This meat was using to complement the legumes. Another exception was the milk, when the goat gave birth, they drank milk. They could not buy it, was too expensive. Rich people, or fat people, as Raimunda called them, ate all kinds of food. To eat meat they paid a "bull" to the church.

Regarding to hygiene, there was no social security or advances that are now, as we told Raimunda. Medicines were provided from a kind of society that they were paying and you aimed there to prevent when you when you were sick. To wash and water that were using for other needs, took it out of a well near the house. It's hard to imagine for us not to have a tap to open and where water comes out but not so long ago that this occurred in Spain.

The postwar period was not a big change for this family. The brothers returned from the war and sought work. Began working as a mason, locksmith ... but the money they earned kept it for the wedding and their life when they got married.
Raimunda therefore had to continue working as rag-picker, looking in garbage and live as before. Older, when things got better, he could get into an academy and learn something from reading and writing but by then it was not very effective. Turning to her granddaughter says "Why do you think that I have so many spelling mistakes?"

In conclusion, there were hard times for many families. Children had to leave school and work very young. There was a lack of hygiene, health and feeding. People, as in this case, looking in the garbage to have that live. Is interesting how this person, so close to us, talk about those days, whenever we talk about the Civil War and dictatorship as it happened centuries ago and in fact among us, people who lived at that time, these miseries that had absolutely nothing. It's amazing how many changes they have experienced, possibly so radical changes, as different times, that none of us will experience it.

After this essay and listening the words of Raimunda, makes me really think about how we have born in a time where everything has been given us. We had not to looking for food, and fight for our rights, and neither to get expression freedom. Often we don't know how well makes us listen to others who fought for what we have today and how hard it was lived that. As the last point, after reflecting on the interview with Raimunda, I wonder how see these people who lived that, today's society. A consumerist society where prevails throwaway. What they thought about their own children and grandchildren who throw all that to them, at that time, saved their lives?
Surely they know much more than they say.

GO!

To finish with this project we are going to present well the results and the conclusion. It will be better explained than in the presentation.

About the results, we have measured the factors and in three different ways.
The factors are tolerance and discrimination, leisure, services and the peer group.
The first one, tolerance and discrimination, was measured with a survey. There were two types of surveys, one for people who lives in selected neighborhood, and another for the gay collective. The weight of this factor was 40%. We have done the “general” survey to 24 people, 6 per neighborhood; we have tried to do 2 surveys for seniors, 2 for families and 2 for young people. On this way, with a little sample we have a big range of age.

In Barrio Salamanca, in question number one, 4 people have answered that they don’t mind if homosexual collective is discriminate, and two people answered that they think is a normal population. On question number two, if they think that gays are discriminated, 2 people think that yes, they are and 4 people think that they are not discriminated. In questions number 3 and 4 all people think that Chueca is the better place two live for them and is the place where they normally live. In question number 5, 2 people said perhaps, two yes and two no, in the question number six, four people said yes and two no. In question number seven all people said yes, that in Chueca are a lot of homosexual peer groups. In the question number eight match all people too, they choose a (night clubs), b (restaurants, bars) and c (spa’s, public swimming pool, colleges..).

In Villaverde neighborhood, in question 1, two people said that they don’t mind and four people that is a normal population. In second question, two people answered “I don’t know” and four people said no, they are not discriminated. In question number 3 and 4, all people match in Chueca. In questions 5 and 6, all people answered no, they don’t mind if its neighbor were homosexual, neither if they had children. In question number seven everybody said yes, that they think there is a lot of homosexual peer groups in Chueca, and in question number 8, six of six think that homosexual people want a, b and c, like in barrio Salamanca.

In Francos Rodriguez, in question number 1, two people answered “I don’t mind” and four people think is a normal population. In question 2 everybody answered that gays are not discriminated. In question 3 and 4 all people said Chueca. In question 5 and 6, six of six answered no. in question seven everybody think that there are a lot of homosexuals in Chueca (yes). And in question 8, they have said the same than in the others neighborhood (a, b and c)

In Chueca, in question number one, all people think that is a normal population, in number two, everybody think that they are not discriminated, in number 3 and 4, six of six answered Chueca, in number 5 and 6 all people said no, in number 7, four people said yes but 2 people answered “not a lot” and in number 8, the same, night clubs, restaurants, spa’s, colleges..

The second survey, which we have done to gay people, have more general results, due to it was an open-ended survey. We answered about our questions to eight gays men. Usually, in the first question, they answered that they are comfortable everywhere if they are not discriminated against or looked rarely.
In the second question, where we asked them if they think that nightlife is an important factor when you are going to choose where to live, due to the gays people fame, they answered that nightlife it is important to choose the city, but not the neighborhood.
In question number 3, do you think that all homosexual people want to live in Chueca? They said no, maybe some gays from others cities that think that Chueca will be better.
In question number 4, is someone of your peer group living in Chueca? Someone told us that he has some friends living in Chueca, but they live there for other reasons, not for being gay. Maybe some gays from others cities that think that Chueca will be better
In question 5, do you think that people discriminate homosexuals? They usually answered us no, that there are old thoughts people everywhere, but in general they feel accepted.
In question 6, what would you like to have in your neighborhood? In general, they answered subway stations, close to city center, shops and stores, some late clubs, or close parks. Others said that they want to have some good schools and parks for children, so in the future they pretend to have children.

For us this has been the most difficult factor to measure.

The second factor, leisure, was measured searching in internet and reading tourist guides of Madrid, where users who give their opinion and are familiar with these neighborhoods. Also we visit the different neighborhoods to see how bars, night clubs and other leisure places are in the different district. Chueca is the neighborhood with the high number of places like that.
 

The third and the fourth factor to measure was peer group and services, with surveys that we did to gay people, we could see that they worry about this factor like any other person, so it depends on the person if that factors have more or less important for him.
 

As a conclusion after carrying out the survey to these 24 people from the selected neighborhoods we found that the responses depend on the district and the age of people.
In general, elderly people with closed minds believe that homosexuality is not normal or they don’t must to have children. However, younger people believe that they are normal and they can be parents perfectly.
 

Moreover, we have analyzed the results in terms of neighborhoods. We have obtained that in Barrio Salamanca people are stricter in their ideas, with oldest thoughts, so they don’t agree with homosexual thoughts.
In Villaverde don’t give importance to this group, because since it’s a “marginal” neighborhood, all coexist in the same place without discrimination or distinctions.
In Francos Rodriguez, we get consistent results, as people claim they don’t discriminate homosexual and they respect their sexual orientation. 

Finally in Chueca, known for homosexual activity, clearly respects all people, as it’s an open minded, modern and bohemian place. 
 

To conclude the project, we can say that people think that Chueca is the better neighborhood for gays to live. In our investigation, apart from the surveys, we have proved that is the best place where they can carry better their lifestyle and where they are most including, which doesn’t mean that in other neighborhoods don’t feel comfortable
In gays opinion, there are neighborhood where accept better homosexual people and where they feel more comfortable, but not necessary Chueca, they feel right in most places.

Are you sure you are Steady?

Let´s begin with the reason why we have chosen this topic which is the fascinable world of homosexual people.
Most of the times homosexual people are very cheerful, friendly, party-goers, open minded, tolerant, outgoing. But what  who live around them?
Firstly Let us first define the factors.Tolerance is , in our opinion, the most important factor  because depending on the people living in your neighborhood you´ll  be more or less comfortable.  So will measure this factor with a survey in which we will find out which of the four districts is the most tolerant.The weight of this factor will be 40%.
Some of the questions are:

1. What do you think about homosexuality?

- I think it's normal population.

- I think it's a problem for the population.

- I do not mind.

2. Do you think that homosexuals are discriminated against?

- Yes

- No

- I don’t know.

3. From your point of view, what is the district

with the highest homosexual population?

.......................................................................

Other factor that we would like to measure which it´s related to the fisrt one is descrimination. We believe that if in the neighborhood where you live, your neighbors will discriminate on your sexual orientation, then you should wonder if it is the best place to live . So it also becomes an important factor, which also will be measured with some survey questions and it has a weight of 15%.
For these two factors we will use some indicators we consider relevant :the average ege of the population, beliefs (religion, morality..) and finally we think it´s also important the neighborhood lifestyle. With this last indicator we mean if the neighborhood has a good economic level or not.

Of course it is necessary to pay attention to the peer group, as it is imporant not to feel alone, meaning that you feel support. We will measure the type of neighborhood, if is a trendy, bohemianmore secretive as you can be Salamanca´s neighborhood , and so on. The neighborhood type will represent the 25%

On one hand leisure is very important to them, as they are very outgoing and like to go out with friends. Therefore in the visit to each district we´ll make an observation on the number of bars, nightclubs, coffee shops, unique for homosexuals which will be our way to measure the leisure. We will look for some information  on internet  and visit  each neighborhood  and give a porcentage of 10%.
But on the other hand also look real important the facilities they have. Such as hotels can feel comfortable, spas,  schools, gym, etc.. But not only for  homosexual´s comfort, but of homophobic people..
This will be measured in a quantitative manner depending on the number of hotels, spas and other services.
In terms of importance this last point will be the 10% of the factors.

From our point of view, we think these are the  most important factors and indicatos of our research and will be useful to find out the conclusion.

Steady?

Let´s begin with the reason why we have chosen this topic which is the fascinable world of homosexual people. 
Most of the times homosexual people are very cheerful, friendly, party-goers, open minded,
tolerant, outgoing. But what about the people who live around them? 

Firstly Let us first define the factors.Tolerance is , in our opinion, the most important factor  because depending on the people living in your neighborhood you´ll  be more or less comfortable.  So will measure this factor with a survey in which we will find out which of the three districts is the most tolerant.

Other factor that we would like to measure and it´s related to the fisrt one is descrimination. We believe that if in the neighborhood where you live, your neighbors will discriminate on your sexual orientation, then you should wonder if it is the best place to live . So it also becomes one of the most important factors, which also will be measured with some survey questions.

On one hand leisure is very important to them, as they are very outgoing and like to go out with friends. Therefore in the visit to each district we´ll make an observation on the number of bars, nightclubs, coffee shops, unique for homosexuals. 

But on the other hand also look real important the facilities they have. Such as hotels can feel comfortable, spas, etc.. But not only for  homosexual´s comfort, but of homophobic people..

This will be measured in a quantitative mannerdepending on the number of hotels, spas and other services.

From our point of view, we think these are the factors and indicators most important to our research and  we expect them to be easy to measure

Ready?

The group is formed by:
Jéssica París ,Esther González ,Isabel Masa
and we are students from 2ºA class.


In this project we would like to measure different factors related with our topic, which is the liveability in different neighborhoods, for homosexual people.
We will measure, Carabanchel, Barrio del Pilar, Chueca and Salamanca.