Ana María Cabeza is 87 years old.
You might imagine her in a rocking chair, knitting or watching television. Instead, you’ll find her every day walking through the cars of the Santiago Metro in Chile, with a bag of empanadas under her arm. She has Parkinson’s, a disease that makes her hands tremble every time she collects a coin, but her decision to go out to work has never wavered.
A passenger recorded the moment without imagining what it would set in motion. The video went viral within hours, and thousands of people began asking about the story behind the woman who, at an age when most people have already earned their rest, continues pushing a cart to bring money home.
No one knows for certain how many older adults like Ana María there are in Latin America, selling whatever they can to survive. Her case, however, put that invisible number in front of millions of screens.