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The gesture of a Cuban child from Bayamo has touched many people on social media, as it became known that he decided to donate his toys to other children who lost everything following the devastating impact of the hurricane Melissa in eastern Cuba.
The Facebook user Yanelkys Llera Céspedes shared the story.
"José donates his toys to children affected by Hurricane Melissa. Today he returned to school after so many days of absence, but this time without wearing a uniform; he wasn't going to attend classes or play with his friends."
The woman explained that the initiative came from the child himself, who, after receiving a call from his grandmother, broke into tears and began filling his backpack with his favorite toys.
"He took the books out of his backpack and instead filled it with everything he found, toys that hold sentimental value for him, but he knew it would change those children's lives significantly," he wrote.
José even asked for another bag to continue packing what he could donate.
Her school, the 4 de Abril semi-boarding school, was established as an evacuation center for families in Bayamo who lost everything during the hurricane.
"The director thanked her for the gesture," specified the author of the post.
The grandmother of the minor, Xiomara Céspedes, confessed that she had cried a lot over her grandson's very human gesture.
"Just with a call to explain what had happened to all the people in these areas, he didn't waste a minute. Those are the values we instilled in him from a young age, always helping others," he emphasized.
The woman revealed that when she was a child, she was affected by Cyclone Flora, which took her home, along with her grandfather and much of her family.
"That's why I understand the feelings behind José's tears, because it hurts him deeply. I love you, my beautiful grandson," she added.
The actions of this child, small in age but great in empathy, contrast with the harsh reality faced by hundreds of minors in makeshift shelters following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
Schools turned into precarious shelters
Days earlier, a Cuban identified as José Alberto Pérez López reported the "alarming and deeply disgraceful" conditions in which the evacuated families find themselves in the Orlando Lara school, also in Granma.
According to their testimony, the children and adults are left on the ground, without mattresses or sheets, exposed to humidity and cold.
"Food is practically nonexistent: there is not enough food, nor is there guaranteed access to potable water. There is also no stable medical care or basic hygiene resources," he detailed on Facebook.
"How is it possible that in the midst of tragedy, children are received without a mattress to protect them from the cold ground they have to sleep on?" he questioned.
Their complaint exposed the reality of many evacuation centers in the country: overcrowded places, lacking resources and adequate conditions, where official promises fade in the face of daily neglect.
The official discourse and the reality of the people
Meanwhile, the government insists on its narrative of efficiency and control.
After a visit by Miguel Díaz-Canel to a shelter in Holguín, he stated that the evacuees were receiving "good nutrition and medical and psychological care."
However, testimonies from Bayamo, Río Cauto, and Contramaestre reveal a completely different picture: shelters lacking food, medication, and sufficient mattresses.
Most of the evacuees, as even official reports acknowledge, were taken in by family members or neighbors.
More than 95% of the displaced were not housed by the State, but by other Cubans who, using their own resources, provided shelter and food to those who had nothing.
The government celebrates this "popular solidarity" as a demonstration of the "revolutionary spirit," but the truth is that this same gesture highlights the lack of institutional capacity to protect the population.
A crisis that repeats itself
Every hurricane in Cuba follows the same pattern: fragile housing, inadequate shelters, shortages, and neglect.
The families affected by Sandy, Irma, Ian, or the more recent Oscar are still waiting for solutions that never arrived, while now Melissa has once again destroyed what little they had.
Amidst that devastation, the gesture of a child who gives up their toys to console others becomes a powerful symbol. Not only of kindness, but also of resistance against official indifference.
José, with his backpack full of small treasures, has shown more humanity than an entire system that claims to be "supportive," yet leaves his childhood to sleep on the ground.
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