IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 5 ENGLISH | Page 66

Of course, there were always the early departures, right after breakfast, or a Saturday
here or there, during the time we were supposed to use for resting and washing our
clothes. Most of us did not have other
clothes to change into, so we’d try as much
as we could to look decent for when our
families and friends visited. Those of us
who were from low income families were
allowed to acquire work clothes and sneakers, which we’d later use for going to
school (the sneakers) or go out (the pants).

When not with our families, we were just
adolescents and youths between 12-17
years of age who were away from their
families and got no salary at the Rural
School, because our reward would be a
better future. No one could get out of going
to the Rural School. Not going jeopardized
your future, for example, not getting to
bypass the college prep stage to get into
university, which was selective. A secondary school student had to fulfill different
requirements ranging from academic performance to having moral character, which
included participating in Rural Schools the
prescribed number of times. Only those
who had a medical excuse could get out of
it, and this had to be approved by a Medical
Commission in charge of determining if the
illness truly limited active participation at a
camp, either in agricultural work or at the
camp store. There were students who’d get
sick at the camps and did not want to go
home for fear of losing credit for the stay
there.

In reality, most of the youth saw that life as
a life of joy. Sometimes we’d enjoy music,
dance, and a few jokes on our recreational
evenings.
There were always youth in need, even
though the price of the most needed items
were lower than the set ones. Many families
had to make great sacrifices to provide the
children with the basic toiletries, clothing
and food those stints required.
It was an opportunity for me to have my
own towel and sleep alone on a bed, if we
can call those bunks beds. At home, all we
had was two full-sized beds and a sofa bed
for six people. I had to sleep with my father
and youngest brother in a full. Once I started developing, I stopped sleeping with them
because they’d kick a lot in their sleep. So,
I started sleeping alone on a sideboard: a
large, mahogany piece of furniture used for
storing monthly food supplies and a few
cockroaches, too. I’d put a mattress and
sheet on top and turn it into a personal bed.
I cannot remember when it was our family
moved that sideboard into the room, or
when it was moved out, but after a few
years of use, it was replaced by a smaller
sideboard acquired by the wife of one of my
brothers. Luckily for me, when this change
happened, two of my brothers had left home
with two different scholarships, and another
was forced to serve in the military. So, I
was able to share a full-sized bed with my
father.

Once in college prep, missing one of these
stints at a camp school jeopardized your
career options at university, even if you had
a letter from the Medical Commission.
Once graduated, we had to be available to
work anywhere in the country.
I belong to the generation of Cubans that is
today between 17-30 years old. We grew up
within this call for the future, one for which
we supposedly worked. We have also had
the experience of going through secondary
school without stints at camp schools. Yet,
at semi-boarding schools, which are from
7:30AM to 4:40PM, our only food option
was a snack you brought from home and a
poorly named, State-offered Special Snack:
a piece of bread with cheese, or croquette,
or mortadella, and a four-ounce class of
(supposedly soy) yogurt. With this miserly
snack, one has to sit through classes and do
physical exercise. This food is supposed to
be enough to last us seven hours at second-

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