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The Empty Desks & Hope That Teaches in La Guaira, Venezuela

HAVANA TIMES – Returning to school in La Guaira, Venezuela, following the two major earthquakes and a vaguely defined vacation period, has been marked by absence, sadness, and desolation. Schools are not and will never be the same. The structural cracks in the buildings that managed to remain standing are impossible to hide, but even more profound are the cracks left in the memories and emotions of those who inhabit and sustain these spaces of civic education.

Until the very last moment, the official list of those who died at each school and high school was kept confidential. As a result, that first day was not simply a return to classes, but the confirmation—silent yet deafening—that numerous members of the educational community (students, parents, teachers, administrative staff, and maintenance workers) were no longer among the living.

Grief that had been suspended in time began to flow, revealing a mourning process that demands opportunities for emotional support and healing. In this context, the act of taking attendance—a fundamental ritual of school culture—ceased to be a mere........

© Havana Times