The Race for School Supplies

The Race for School Supplies / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar
Posted on August 13, 2015

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 12 August 2015 — The long line snakes
outside the bookstore under the scorching August sun. Most are women
with children. "They're selling the thick notebooks," announces an
elderly lady to someone asking who is last on line*. The race is on to
buy school supplies, such as backpacks and lunchboxes. However, some
have better starts than others.

Daniela visited the aquarium, went to the beach, and ran around in the
park near her house during her summer vacation. But now, as the days of
rest are running out, her mother has embarked on a marathon run from
store to store trying to find everything from colored pencils to a water
bottle. Daniela wants to start the first day of school with "nice and
pretty things," which will hardly be cheap.

With 6,827 elementary and 1,766 middle schools throughout the country,
the authorities of the Cuban Ministry of Education are giving assurances
that school supplies will be guaranteed for the more than 1,500,000
students starting the 2015-2016 school year. Still, students and parents
complain about the poor quality of the supplies, and the limited
quantities distributed.

"My daughter can't use an eraser because it leaves a hole in the paper,"
said a mother about the notebooks handed out in schools. The woman was
waiting to shop outside of La Época department store in Central Havana.
Illegal vendors in the vicinity of department stores sell notebooks with
colorful covers, and ruled paper for one CUC.

In homes with school age children, the same scenario is being repeated
over and over again as kids line up their precious pencils, protractors,
and erasers on their beds or on the dinner table. Some families have
already found backpacks, the source of many a headache given the high
prices and flimsiness of those for sale in the government's network of
retail stores.

Daniela is lucky. She has an aunt living in Miami who bought her a
backpack online. Her family received a phone call from the Plaza de
Carlos III shopping center informing them there was a school supply
purchase waiting for them there. The émigré relative also threw in a box
of colored pencils. In Cuba, Daniela's mother – an engineer who
graduated a decade ago – would have had to work three days to pay for
those pencils.

However, the online purchase hasn't solved all the problems. Daniela's
family will spend a whole week searching for all the supplies she still
needs. Her grandmother, who owns a car, will be going to "La Cuevita,"*
a popular yet illegal market where small and medium size school uniforms
are sold, although these same sizes are in short supply at
government-run stores. Daniel's father's mission is to find her shoes,
while her mother is in charge of finding a pencil sharpener and a
compass for geometry class.

Since shortages have worsened in the last few weeks, Daniela's family's
task will take a few days. "Every store is empty," protested a
grandmother of twins who will be starting first grade in September as
she visited La Moderna Poesía bookstore. "An eraser here costs me at
least 50 cents in CUC, but that's my whole pension for one day," she added.

Fashion also affects the predilection for specific school supplies. "My
daughter wants a Monster High backpack," explains a desperate mother who
last Tuesday visited all the shops on Monte Street. The Monster High
fashion doll and video franchise has become all the rage among Cuban
children, putting their parents into a bind, pressured to do the
impossible to get a hold of one of the brand's items.

The same scenario – but with even more challenges – plays out in cities
and small towns outside Havana Province. Long lines to buy school
uniforms have become part of the urban landscape every month of August
in the city of Pinar del Río. Still, unauthorized vendors manage to
outwit the police by selling pencils, quality notebooks, and book covers
made from recycled x-ray film.

The Ministry of Education turns a blind eye to all of this. A couple of
weeks ago, Marisol Bravo Salvador, the Ministry's director for the
Vueltabajo Region of Pinar del Río Province affirmed that her district
"has all the necessary resources, like notebooks, pencils, and teaching
modules that guarantee a year for optimal learning."

The race to get all necessary school supplies is in full swing, but
surely many children will enjoy nothing new when the schools year
begins. These kids will probably become the targets of the snooty stares
of their classmates, who – right in front of their eyes – will be
showing off their lunch boxes that keep soda cold until afternoon
recess, as well as their strawberry-scented erasers.

When the first morning school bell rings in September, there will be
children lining up for class with eye-catching backpacks sporting
smiling Disney princesses, carrying notebooks purchased by émigré
relatives. Others will recycle part of what they used last school year,
or they will just wait for whatever the teacher gives out.

Translator's Notes:
* Cubans join a line by asking, "who's last," and then they are free to
cluster, wander around, leave and come back etc., without losing their
place in line.
**Literally "The Little Cave." In popular Cuban parlance the term is
applied to discrete locales of unlawful activity, much like U.S.
Prohibition-era speakeasies.

Translated by José Badué

Source: The Race for School Supplies / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar |
Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-race-for-school-supplies-14ymedio-luz-escobar/