'Why can't I have my life back?': In Puerto Rico, living and learning in the dark
By Moriah Balingit January 29
Julio Ortiz, 7, watches his father, Angel Ortiz, 47, cut a fallen tree in the backyard. The home is powerless and the wind peeled the paint from the walls and ceiling. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)
HUMACAO, Puerto Rico — On a warm January morning, 17-year-old Neida Ortiz Torres awoke in a tent pitched outside her mold- and mosquito-infested house. She walked inside, passing through the living room, where school portraits and academic medals still hang.
In pitch black, she pulled on her school uniform and Converse sneakers, relying on the glow of her cellphone. Then, it was off to the bus stop — past debris and wreckage, and an intersection where a desperate neighbor had scrawled in white paint, “S.O.S. NECESITAMOS AGUA/COMIDA” (“We need water/food”) — and off to a high school still grappling with intermittent blackouts and water outages.
Neida and her 7-year-old brother, Julio, lost so much when Hurricane Maria struck in September — clothing and schoolwork, books and Neida’s anime drawings and then, after the floodwaters receded, days and days of school. Julio did not return to class until late October, and Neida in mid-November. They were lucky. In other parts of the island, children did not return until December, missing nearly three months.
Even then, things were far from normal. Neida’s English teacher left the island after the storm and was not replaced for weeks. Julio’s school still has no power.
“Why can’t I have my life back?” Neida asked.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/why-cant-i-have-my-life-back-in-puerto-rico-living-and-learning-in-the-dark/2018/01/29/09120c4e-fed9-11e7-bb03-722769454f82_story.html