Graduated at 79: “Until the last day of our lives, we can learn wonderful things”

“Five years ago, when I was 73 years old, for the first time in my life, I wondered if I should finish my studies which I had abandoned in the third year of humanities, which today would be my first half. It was about a comment they made to me that hurt me: they told me that if I had studied, I would be different. They spoke to me arrogantly of a word which I misused. I knew she didn’t have a perfect language, but all her life she had tried to be correct, to speak as well as possible. However, that time they made me see that I had failed in my studies and that made me feel bad, diminished. So at that time I made the decision to study,” says Dalila Moreno, who is currently 78 years old and in her second year as a social work technician at CFT San Agustín, in Linares.

Dalila – like so many women her age – gave up her studies for love. She is from Talca, she first studied at the María Auxiliadora de Talca school and then went to high school. While there, she met the man who was to be her husband. “I fell in love and when you fall in love, sometimes you make impulsive decisions. He was a man 21 years my senior, he already had a life, a job, and I devoted myself to accompanying him. that’s why I dropped out of high school,” he says.

Her husband was a businessman, he had to travel and even for a while they moved to Calama for his work, so studies were not a priority for her. Then she became a mother of three children and devoted herself to education. “Like all marriages, we had ups and downs, but we had a good life overall. He gave me the pleasure of everything, even after a short time together, I asked him for a car as a gift and he signed me up for driving lessons. When I was ready, he gave me a Fiat 600,” she recalls.

They spent their whole life together, until at the age of 55, her husband died. She lived with a girl for a while, but – according to her account – having two housewives in the same place doesn’t work very well. So he went to live in Yerbas Buenas, a town located in the province of Linares, where he had more family.

She recalls her husband, once their children were born, encouraging her to continue her education, but she felt unprepared. “I saw it as something inaccessible,” he admits. Until the comment came with which she felt diminished, but also pushed to change. “That comment made me feel bad, but at the same time, it was the spark that ignited my desire to study, so in the end, it changed my life for the better,” he confesses. .

At 73, he enrolled at Casa Estudio Chaminade to complete fourth grade. He did it successfully. “Every three years I got first place in the course,” she says proudly. A recognition that motivated her to continue, supported by the school director. “He told me that I had the conditions to continue, so I enrolled at CFT San Agustín to study Social Work Technician. Best decision of my life.”

Why did you choose this career?

I have always enjoyed sharing with diverse people, supporting those who need it most, not so much economically, but emotionally. I believe that accompanying, giving a word of encouragement, telling someone that what they are going through is going to happen, containing them, is very necessary and can change people’s lives.

What would you like to do when you finish your studies?

Childhood is somehow protected with public programs such as Mejor Niñez, and there are also cases where the elderly are protected, but there is a part that remains without this support, I am not talking about material support but emotional support, containment. That’s what I would like to do. Working with young people, because I also believe that they have a lot of problems today.

I know that at my age no one is going to offer me a contract or a paid job, but that’s not what I’m looking for. If I could collaborate with a foundation that allows me to help young people, that would be wonderful for me. I think they really need it, especially in these times. Fathers and mothers had to go to work and they have no choice but to leave their children alone, and it is necessary to accompany them until they grow up. Young people between the ages of 18 and 20 still need support and correction in the way they act or think.

Do you feel with the tools to do so?

Well, it was a bit difficult to face studies again. Going from the typewriter to the computer was one of my worst traumas: my fingers had lost their elasticity, they became clumsy and the cramps are more frequent with time. But I did. Now I even type fast. All this thanks to my desire to surpass myself, but also to the patience and motivation of my teachers, who are great.

They gave me tools to feel ready to work on it. For example, they taught me law, children, young people; an amount of information that made me reconsider, think differently. All this knowledge opens your mind. They taught me psychology, how to recognize another person’s emotions by their movements.

I am grateful to God for having come this far and I hope that God will continue to support me to move forward.

What would you say to those who see age as a handicap?

I invite you to motivate yourself. I know that a lot of old people won’t find a job, but they acquire knowledge in order to be able to help others, to contribute to a rather run-down society. Ultimately, it has to do with transcendence, with whether your time in this world has been relevant.

I believe that every human being has the capacity to continue studying and also to improve as a person, to have another vocabulary, another expression, and for that age does not matter. Until the last day of our life, we can learn wonderful things. Studying is the best thing that has happened to me at this stage of life and having the support of teachers, of young people, has renewed me. It was like being born again.