We live in a diverse world, where differences have transformed from obstacles and prejudices into assets. Explaining this from an early age fosters empathy, respect, inclusion, and tolerance.
This perspective is embraced at the Inés Fuentes and González de Aledo Special Education Centre, located in the La Vera neighbourhood of Puerto de la Cruz, where they liken children to butterflies: some can fly higher, but everyone does so in the way that best suits them, while finding happiness.
This message was intended to be reflected on the centre’s façade by the artist Roberto Rodríguez, known as RoRo, who is engaged in an educational project involving painting schools or socially deprived areas, while also fostering connections with the local community to create a more positive atmosphere.
It was a group of mothers who saw him painting at schools in Los Realejos last year, reached out to him, and this sparked the idea which was subsequently presented to the management team and accepted.
CEIP Inés Fuentes and González de Aledo is a small, regional centre that accommodates 50 students in Early Years, Primary, and Transition to Adult Life, aged 3 to 21, from La Matanza de Acentejo to San Juan de la Rambla.
They gave him the green light to work, but expressed a desire for him to first meet the students and their families. RoRo did not hesitate. He spent an entire morning with them, getting to know them and hearing their stories, while also observing the dedication of the staff. Most importantly, he noticed that the students were happy.
He left feeling “delighted” and thought he needed to do something “cool” for those children, adolescents and young people who study happily, interacting in their own unique ways. “They are like their peers, and although they may face more challenges, they go to school joyfully, alongside their teachers, classmates, and caretakers, because all the staff, both teaching and non-teaching, are truly invested,” the artist asserts.
He captured that reality and all the feelings conveyed to him in the exterior of the building, where one can see children smiling, happy, and showcasing those characteristics that make them unique. In this regard, he acknowledges that it “was very challenging to represent the theme of disability, both physical and mental”. His professionalism and sensitivity are evident. He achieved it with small details, facial features or particular body parts that may go unnoticed by most. “That is what I wanted to convey: at their core, they are the same as the others, but what makes them different is the way they communicate or express themselves,” he explains.
He began painting last Monday and finished by Saturday to have the work ready before the new school year commenced. The hours he dedicated were also felt in the local community, where a “balcony of fans” formed, coming every afternoon to share their thoughts with him, he proudly notes.
At the café where he would have his espresso, he was known as “the guy painting the Inés Fuentes.” A lovely atmosphere was created, similar to what he has experienced in other small or hidden communities; however, from now on, thanks to RoRo’s drawings and colours, it will be somewhat harder for this area to go unnoticed, even by institutions.
