Last Wednesday afternoon, the Association of Families with Oncohematological Diseases of Lanzarote (AFOL) presented the story Afolín's Journey, at the Agustín de la Hoz House of Culture in Arrecife. The event, presided over by the president of AFOL, Carmen Arrocha, was attended by the deputy mayor and councilor for festivals of the Arrecife City Council, Echedey Eugenio, as well as the councilors for Culture and Social Welfare, Immigration and Equality, Abigail González and Maite Corujo, the councilor for Social Welfare and Inclusion, and the numerous public who filled the venue supporting this new project of the association.
Carmen Arrocha was very grateful for the reception and welcomed everyone, explaining that "summarizing AFOL in a story is impossible." It has been 23 years of history, opening and closing doors to achieve what we need most: our health," she specified. "First, because at the beginning, our sons and daughters were the priority and we couldn't fail them. Soon they saw that we were launching small darts at the institutions, requesting basic health needs, and adults were coming looking for help. Of course, they found it. How could we say no to Mrs. Avelina, if she is all heart?" she added. And so, sharing with associations, patients, families, institutions, and health professionals, we understood what Lanzarote needed and needs. Therefore, for them, this story is their legacy, because they find their reflection in that seagull called Afolin," she emphasized in her words.
"We cannot ignore that there are many decisions, suggestions, claims... so that everyone listens to us and fulfills their obligations; however, this journey we take today, with Afolin, will be the beginning of starting other flights to try to find better diagnoses, drugs, prevention, and treatment supported by research," she assured. Therefore, "after so much struggle to empathize, tolerate, and why not, have fun enjoying those small moments that many seagulls, through their experience, have left us. Today, with this wonderful journey of Afolín, we have fulfilled one more objective of our passage through the life of the association, that of all users, members, and collaborators, who year after year have given their strength, hope, and heart so that this association continues forward," she revealed. "We hope that Afolin knows how to reach our lives and with the reflection that everyone can achieve it," she stated.
The author of the story, Lorena Curbelo, was born in Lanzarote and graduated in physiotherapy. After almost two decades dedicated to healthcare, she burst into the literary world in 2016 with the project Educating for health through stories. Curbelo writes stories and tales, each with a different health theme, promoting healthy habits and lifestyles, transmitting values such as respect, tolerance, solidarity, humanity, sensitivity, and empathy.
Also, the illustrator Nela Hernández holds degrees in Interior Design and Artistic Drawing and Illustration from the Pancho Lasso School of Arts in Arrecife, who years later entered the world of Graphic Design, which is still her main job today. In 2015, she carried out the design and mural, the emblem of AFOL on the Oncohematology floor of the Hospital D. José Molina Orosa, but currently she continues working with ideas and projects that come from the heart.
The head of the Editorial Canaria, Néstor Cebrián Reyes, is the person who has been accompanying and helping before and during the elaboration of the story. Not forgetting that the event had the special collaboration of the young pianist, musician from the Insular Center of Musical Education of Lanzarote (CIEM), Emanuele Poggi, who was in charge of enlivening the development of the event.