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Juan Antonio Marrahí
Valencia
Tuesday, 24 December 2024
They left Malaga for a better life and settled in the Valencian town of Paiporta, however, the recent devastation of the 'Dana' floods in their town has led them to spending a very different Christmas back in their home province this year.
The home of Loli López, 77, and her husband Domingo Díaz, 88, was destroyed when floods swept through in late October, forcing the pair to seek refuge in Torre del Mar on the eastern Costa del Sol. Their children have remained in Paiporta, as well as their four grandchildren.
Their story is that of a life of effort and sacrifice that has now been cut short by disaster. The well-known advertising myth of "going home for Christmas" is contrasted with that of having to leave at this time of year because there is no other way, after having lost a home. Separation instead of the comforting reunion. That is the reality for Loli who cries with her daughter Rosa María on the phone when they chat during this period.
Loli's memory travels back in time. "I grew up in Malaga, in Torre del Mar," she told SUR's sister newspaper Las Provincias. "I married Domingo in the village and my children, María Rosa and Domingo, were born there." When the children were just two and four years old, the couple took the difficult decision to leave Malaga. "There was no work here and we thought that in Valencia we would find a better future for us and our children," Loli said. That was more than half a century ago. And they chose Paiporta.
"My mother's sisters had also gone to Valencia before and they told us about the good opportunities," Loli said. "Working life worked out better than in Malaga. My husband got a job on the building site and I worked as a domestic worker in a house in Valencia," she said.
Now, at last, they were enjoying a well-deserved retirement after a life of hard work, and with the joy and peace of mind of having their loved ones close by. Since they settled in the town of l'Horta Sud, they have lived as tenants in a ground floor flat of a two-storey building located in Calle Pintor Sorolla, about 200 metres from the ravine and very close to the parish of Sant Ramon Nonat.
It was there that disaster struck on 29 October. "I was watching the Ana Rosa programme on television and my husband was watching a western movie in another room. Then Alejandro, one of my grandchildren who lives upstairs, came in. He was very nervous and will never forget his words: 'Grandma, run, go upstairs, go upstairs now, the river is coming, it's overflowing',". With nothing to wear and no time to rescue any valuables, Loli and her husband took refuge upstairs with Alejandro, his wife and two children.
From there, leaning out on the balcony, they witnessed the horror that ensued on that Tuesday. Flash floods swept through their home. "Not a single painting was left. Everything was destroyed. Only some of the walls were spared. The one in the dining room fell, another one in the corridor. Everything was razed to the ground," Loli said.
"More than 50 years of work for the flood to wash it all away," she added. What hurts Loli most is what she will not be able to recover. "All the memories, the only photos of my parents, my children's birthdays when they were little.... You can replace a piece of furniture, but not those memories," Loli said.
Overnight, they found themselves without a home. After the anguished days that followed the flood, Loli and Domingo took the "mutual decision" not to occupy their relatives' house in Paiporta any longer and to return to Torre del Mar, in Malaga. Another relative has found them a temporary flat there to rent, and they have already moved in.
But it is considerably more expensive than the one in Paiporta. "It's a first floor flat for which we are paying 650 euros compared to the 100 euros it cost to rent in Valencia," Loli said. "Add to that electricity, water, food, clothes... It's a hassle. And it's all provisional. We have to leave the flat in May because the owner is coming to live here and we are still looking for another one in Malaga," she added.
Meanwhile, their children are also searching for a flat for their parents in Paiporta. "Our dream and desire is to return to Valencia, of course, but we don't know when that will be," they said. And all this odyssey on the eve of Christmas. "The last holidays together in Paiporta were wonderful. Now we have had to move away from our children and grandchildren. Every time I talk to my daughter on the phone, we end up crying," Loli said.
She is overcome with emotion as she recalls past family gatherings on Christmas Eve in the now devastated house. "They were in our house. We had 14 to 15 people together. My children, my grandchildren... I cooked, always a lot of food. I cooked chicken, roasted prawns, made soup, noodles for the children...". That space is now razed to the ground.
In Malaga, they aim not to spend the festive days alone. "We will join my husband's nephew and that's it. With him, his wife and his two daughters," Loli said. She defined herself as a lover of the Christmas lottery, a great player "despite the fact that I have never won anything at all". She used to buy tickets from a Fallas commission, from the Moors and Christians festival, at the pensioners' centre. "I can't even tell you what I used to spend," she said. But now everything has changed: "Almost all the lottery offices in the Valencia area hit by the 'Dana' have gone down the drain. This year I would have bought more, she said, "but since we lost the house there were many other problems to solve".
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