Valencia continues to recover three weeks after DANA left a trail of destruction and forced many families to reorganize their lives. In the midst of this adversity, the story of Nadia and Nayara, two twins who are only 20 months old, has gone viral, and it is not difficult to understand why. Despite the chaos and devastation, every time girls take to the streets of Sedaví They see their surroundings as a big playground.they greet, laugh and enjoy their walks.
The mother, Iris de la Vega, confesses to 20 minutes that the first days were the hardest: “We spent two or three days without water and without electricity. We were caught at the end of the month and we didn’t even have milk for the girls.According to him, since the volunteers began to arrive they have not lacked anything, but he remembers that those initial days “were terrible” due to difficulties to which his daughters seem oblivious.
The tractors and heavy machinery that now invade their neighborhood, far from frightening them, fill them with curiosity. “Every time they go out it’s a party for them”says Iris, adding that the little ones “don’t know anything, but they have a great time,” so much so that they smile and greet everyone. “Everything they see seems exciting to them, whether it’s the firefighters, the military or the trucks,” adds the mother, laughing.
A supermarket cart, girls’ favorite transportation
On October 29, Iris’s family lost their cars, including those of her parents and in-laws, and, in addition, The sports center where she worked as a Fit Kid trainer suffered considerable damage. “It is in ruins and until they fix it they are going to give us an ERTE, but that doesn’t do much,” he laments. Likewise, the family cafeteria, a business that they had opened just a month and a half before, was also left in poor condition.
One day after DANA passed, when the streets were impassable, Iris had to figure out how to move with her little ones. “At first I carried them in a shopping cart, because ours couldn’t go through the mud”account. In fact, that shopping cart became their rescue vehicle.
“I went all over town to see my mother, surrounding streets full of piled up cars and debris, with the girls in her arms,” he explains. After arriving at the apartment, a neighbor told her that her mother had gone to her grandmother’s house to check if she was okay. “I couldn’t take it anymore and, suddenly, I found the cart and I thought: ‘Well, here I put them,'” explains, and since then it has been the twins’ favorite means of transportation. “It was a relief and they took it as another adventure.”
DANA also affected the girls’ playing environment. Before, their routine was based on daycare and visits to the park, where their mother or grandmother used to take them. “They are very active girls,” says Iris. “They don’t like to rest, and they have a great time on the street.” Now, however, the situation is different and they spend much of the day indoors.
“You see few children on the street because you have to go out with a mask and people are afraid to take them out,” observes Iris. Even so, the determination to maintain a normal environment for the little ones led her to be part of a improvised “social daycare” in the Alfafar Musical, where they take care of children while their parents reorganize their homes.
“We set up a small daycare for children who needed to be distracted and cared for while their parents cleaned the streets and houses,” he explains. Furthermore, the center has been transformed into a community support point with distribution of food and essential utensils for those who need it.
An “uncertain” future
Iris rules out moving because the lives of her daughters, her friends and family are in Sedaví. “But I am aware that the future is uncertain and we still do not know how we will get our jobs back,” he emphasizes. “Now there are many volunteers and staff, but this is going to end. People are dedicated, but in a month we don’t know what help we will haveand many families will continue to need it,” he adds.
Today, the sports hall where he worked is a collection center for food and basic necessities. However, the state of destruction is such that, according to Iris estimates, “it will take a whole year to reform it.” “The windows are broken, the walls are down, the floor is up… And although we know there are other priorities, we worry about what we will do in the meantime“, he says sadly.
Yet, The spirit of the twins seems to fill their mother with hope. On each walk, with their boots and their innocent gaze, Nadia and Nayara transform the rubble, mud and uncertainty into contagious joy and captivate both the military and the volunteers who work in the area.
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