MEXICO CITY, Mexico.- Evelyn, teacher preschool resident in Ciego de Ávila with his mother, an elderly woman with an orbital pseudotumor, has been able to say goodbye to his precarious wooden home, in danger of collapse, thanks to the solidarity of Cubans who managed to raise 1,440,000 pesos to obtain a new home for the teacher.
Thanks to the management from journalist Guillermo Rodríguez Sánchez, who socialized the case on social networks and called on Cubans to collaborate to improve the teacher’s living conditions, Evelyn signed this Thursday the ownership of a new residence, a plaque, three bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen tiled floors and wooden closets (“lindones”).
The moment was immortalized with images of the acquisition signature in front of the new house, as shared by Rodríguez himself, who left a breakdown of the costs of purchasing the home and thanks to the people who contributed to this noble task.
Since the passing of hurricane Irma, that hit Cuba in 2017 with winds of up to 256 km/h, Evelyn’s property had been seriously damaged, barely covered by roof fragments, and there she had to shelter her 88-year-old mother, who remains bedridden.
In just 20 days, the will and empathy of Cubans has concretized what the Government has not done in seven years.
A first publication by journalist Rodríguez, made on December 7, presented the heartbreaking story to the Facebook community: the teacher, whose salary could not support the payment of a caregiver for the mother, had to leave her alone to go to work “to earn the pesos that neither cover “even the basics.”
The abode, according to confirmed Guillermo was in semi-collapsed conditions with a high risk of falling on them and they had been left for years “waiting for constructive help that never appears.”
“I assure those who read me that it is not possible to have that home organized, organized, or clean; We are talking about a place that is about to collapse, that gets rivers wet at the slightest drizzle and with boards constantly releasing mold, termites and dripping on top of everything. I call on the entire community of people who read me, the objective is to mobilize the necessary help to rebuild this small house. We do not want it to be a plaque or a palace, but we do want it to be worthy for two human beings to inhabit it,” he said at that time and urged the officials of the Government to contribute.
In just a few days the money raised was growing and the good news arrived: financing had been obtained for a new house.
“Do you remember Evelyn?, the Avilanian preschool teacher with her clapboard house collapsing since Hurricane Irma and the mother in bed with an orbital tumor. Well that’s it! “It was done!” Rodríguez wrote with satisfaction.
With a mention to Yunior Tamayo Barrios already Verona Bonce Due to his involvement in the case and the help provided, the journalist thus put an end to a process that culminated with Evelyn’s accreditation “as a person with a home worthy of her profession.” “Because our boys and girls’ teachers deserve the world, even if some forget that.”
Hurricane Irma hit the northern coast of Cuba from east to west with category 4, causing serious flooding on the coast and forcing 1.7 million people to evacuate.
The phenomenon caused effects in a total of 158,000 housingof them 14,657 suffered total collapses and 16,646 suffered partial ones; another 23,560 completely lost their roofs, and more than 103,000 had partial damage to their roofs. The Government presented credits and subsidies for repairs, but did not provide materials for free.
