Alexis Aguirre - BOOK "NINA" X NARU BONILLA

Author: NARU BONILLA

September 2017. No one was prepared for what we experienced during and after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. The entire country came to a standstill; you couldn't look anywhere without seeing devastation. At first, many of us believed it would be a matter of days, maybe weeks; however, we were completely wrong. Our misery and pain would last for years; it became a tragedy without end. Thousands died; more than 200,000 emigrated in search of a new beginning or something resembling a dignified life, as it seemed impossible to find it amidst the rubble and darkness. We suffered hunger, cold, and thirst. Roofs collapsed on us, and it seemed help would never arrive. We all have hundreds of stories to tell. Nina is ours; she is the story of the rural people, of the forgotten, of those who were forced to remain silent. Nina is the machete with which paths were opened, she is the bucket in which she carried water, she is the spent candle and the will to survive.