A Cuban mother living outside the island touched thousands of people on social media with a video in which she is preparing her daughter's backpack and school supplies to send to Cuba, where the girl is about to start her first year of school.
Rachel, known on TikTok as @rachelita131, shared on Tuesday that moment filled with pain and love, with a confession that summarizes the reality of thousands of Cuban families separated by exodus: "I haven't seen her since she was two years old, and now she’s going to school, it’s sad to be far away and prepare her things without being able to be there on her first day."
The video, which is less than a minute long, shows the mother organizing school materials while a heart-wrenching song plays: "I will fight for you to be happy, my little one / And I will give my life so that you can live, my little one / Wherever you go, I will always be your light, my little one" .
The mix of emotions and sadness that Rachel feels is summed up in a single sentence: "I don't know if I'm excited or sad. Your first year of school and mom is far away."
The first day of school is one of those unforgettable milestones in the life of any child, and also for any mother. For Rachel, that moment will arrive without her being able to be there, unable to hold her daughter's hand or walk her to the classroom door.
Her story is not an isolated case. The Cuban exodus in recent years has left thousands of families fragmented, with children growing up under the care of grandparents or other relatives while their parents try to build a life abroad. In September 2025, another Cuban mother in the United States experienced her daughter's first day of school in Cuba via video call, and summed up the situation in a few words: “Many of us had to go through this.”
The immigration restrictions further exacerbate the separation. Many Cuban women with humanitarian parole, pending asylum applications, or I-220A forms cannot return to the island without risking their legal status in the United States, making a visit practically impossible.
This is compounded by the cost of airline tickets, which can exceed 1,000 dollars, creating an economic barrier that further closes the door to reunion.
The numbers behind these stories are striking. Between 2021 and mid-2024, more than 860,000 Cubans arrived in the United States, with the largest influx concentrated between 2022 and 2023. Most of them are young people between the ages of 20 and 40, in their prime reproductive years, which has triggered a silent wave of separations between parents and children that is measured in years of absence and moments that will never return.
Documented cases show reunions after three, five, six, and even seven years of separation, with children crying or failing to recognize their own parents. A Cuban mother experienced that moment after five years without seeing her daughter, and the reunion ended with both on the ground, hugging each other.
Rachel's video garnered over 6,700 views, 383 likes, and 54 comments in less than 24 hours, a response that reflects how many Cuban families see themselves in that image: a packed backpack, a mother far away, and a child who starts school without knowing that his or her mother prepared everything from across the sea.
Filed under: