A sort of museum with drawings of the current state of the city and others of the landscape that they hope to find in a few weeks. Presentations by new tutors, natural science exercises with experiments on plants and minerals and, above all, more hours in the yard than usual playing football, going down the slide or jumping rope, among other activities. A week after the devastation and tragedy, backpacks, books and school activities have returned to some of the areas most affected by the terrible passage of DANA in Valencia. Girls and boys, those at the Early Childhood and Primary Education Center Castellar-l’Oliveralthey wanted to hug their office colleagues again and needed to feel the normalcy of life.
It is the first school that manages to resume classes in the Valencia neighborhoods while in the rest the cleaning work continues in the hope that the bell can ring again from next week. In Castellar-l’Oliveral, the public educational center has reopened its classrooms with a hundred studentsamong whom were also residents of other cities hardest hit by the historic flood of Tuesday, October 29. The school’s director of studies, Carolina Martí, highlighted the importance for the little ones to “feel that we can return to normal life” and that parents “can take care of other tasks such as cleaning the their home or that of their children. .” parents.”
“We received them with a lot of emotion, they were very happy and they thanked us on behalf of their parents because several teachers went to help them,” said the teacher, who explained how they structured the return in class after the disaster: “They We let them express themselves and say things to each other. They talked about what they experienced and They drew how they see the city and how they want it to be in a few weeksby trying to make people understand that after a negative message, there is always a positive message that leaves room for hope. Thus, Martí emphasized that “the first course of the new normal could only consist of hugging us, giving us love, including the teachers. knowing that we are all okay and that everything will get better from now on.”
The Castellar school managed to reopen after approval from the Central Technical Services and firefighters, as well as inspectors from the Ministry of Education, who verified that all the center’s facilities are in perfect condition. The Mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, reaffirmed that “childcare is a priority in these complicated times” and thanked “the enormous work of municipal services with the help of neighbors to take this important step in the neighborhood.
The bell rang at 9:30 a.m. and the latent fear between parents and children faded as soon as they received the first dose of peace and everyday life. Some fathers and mothers, warned not to arrive at the center by car due to the difficulty of access to the village, remained attentive for several minutes after saying goodbye to their children, while others began their walk towards their work or to help clean up one of the nearby communities. Ricardo, an old man who lives right next to the school, laughed a week later: “I needed to get out of the house and That they come back is a small joy after all“. Shortly after, the first dining room supervisors arrived. Víctor, a young man from Benetússer, who comes to “work and have fun for a while” before returning to the hell of the mud. “We have to act normally, because the children deserve it,” he says.
“I really wanted to see my friends”
Those who did not stay to eat at the school came out with ear to ear smiles after seeing that these walls protected them from mud, pain and sorrow. Outside, fathers, mothers, grandmothers and uncles looked forward to them, simply asking them how their day was, without thinking further. “My daughter didn’t want to come, for her it was all just a mini vacation, but we encouraged her by telling her that her friends were at school, that I was going to meet more children and everyone can play in the yard,” said Mari Carmen, whose four-year-old daughter was hosted at the center while they finished cleaning hers, a few miles away. “The fact that them being able to come back makes our job much easier and does us a great service,” he remarked.
Several children leave the CEIP Castellar Oliveral school after classes resume
Her other son, twelve-year-old Rafael, didn’t let himself be intimidated in front of the cameras and confidently spoke about how his first day of school was after a week of suspensions due to rain. “They let us do a lot of things. In the playground, at football and in the classroom, experiment with minerals and plants,” he said, reflecting on how lucky his family has been: “We are doing well, I have friends who have experienced much worse. “I was worried about them and I really wanted to see them.”
Mothers like Susana and María José thank the Castellar school for reopening and welcoming “all the right children.” Their children, friends and neighbors show the two sides of the tragedy which are reflected in the little ones. One of them wanted to go back to school “to see his friends” and the second “He doesn’t want to go out because he’s been scared since the water came into the house.”. Others, like Samuel and Pol, “had a great time” and wish that every day from now on would be as normal as this Tuesday.
