Hansel and Emely’s oasis

To enter the Fernando Chenard Piña elementary school in Havana’s La Lisa municipality is to enter an unreal or parallel world. In the middle of a neighborhood in unfavorable construction conditions, surrounded by streets with potholes, dirty water leaks and loud music, this educational center represents the oasis of the community. Rather than representing it, it very much is.

The school is that orderly, beautiful, cheerful and inclusive space that its environment needs so much. This is confirmed by its director, Zulema Tamayo Muñoz, who has been working at the school for more than a decade.

For the principal and the rest of the staff, the moment of communicating to families that the student has a disability and that they can choose between regular or special education is quite the challenge.

“The families are reluctant and while they mourn the news, they are resentful of the school. However, as soon as they begin to see the progress of the inclusion modality, they thank us,” explains Zulema.

Hansel’s mother and Emely’s grandmother are grateful. Despite the effort and time required for their son and granddaughter (respectively) to continue in regular education, they agree that this was the best decision.

Hansel, the dove boy

His shyness shows as he speaks. He keeps moving his hands. He folds, tears, folds again. He runs his fingers flattening the paper as if hoping that after that the origami dove will fly away.

Hansel learned to make origami with his teacher Fernando. He also taught him to read numbers with more than three digits, to calculate operations he barely understood before, and to play dominoes.

“The teacher always helps me in class and gives me fun activities to do. Some calculations are like a game of dominoes, which I really like, like boxing and soccer. I always play those sports with my best friend in the classroom, Carlitín,” says Hansel and continues with his crafts.

“Hansel used to have behavioral issues, but he has improved a lot. His mother is very satisfied with his progress and no longer has to insist on him to do chores at home, because he takes the initiative on his own. The group loves him and he integrates very well. We are very happy with the way he learns something new every day,” says Fernando Fernández Balceiro, a fourth grade teacher who has been with the child for three years.

Emely, the girl who dances the mambo

Emely hates being late for school. She loves math, running in P.E. and being in dance workshop. At home, she spends her time writing on a whiteboard, doing calculations or talking to her grandmother, with whom she has lived since she was a little girl.

She is quiet, but answers without hesitation when asked, or stands in front of the group of sixth graders to show how to dance the mambo. Those who know her emphasize that she is respectful, calm, obedient and very well liked.

When the municipality’s Center for Diagnosis and Orientation (CDO) determined that Emely had an intellectual disability, it was a moment of confusion for her grandmother Lucrecia Castro Bango. Today she believes that the path of inclusive education she chose then was the best one.

“I decided on this school because I thought it would help her more in her learning, being with children she already knew. Besides, I have always trusted her teachers.  Today I think she has managed to advance and keep pace with her group. She doesn’t have to be told to do her homework, she does it on her own and then helps her younger cousin,” Lucrecia says.

Among the main advances she highlights in her granddaughter are not only those related to academic learning, but also her interest in participating in daily life activities. “She already knows how to do some things in the kitchen, and they turn out even better than mine!” the grandmother points out.