At the request of José Antonio Cedrés, the town's former postman, an emotional meeting was organized with the teacher Don José María Espino and his students from the town of Mácher, corresponding to the period of his stay at this school, years 1961 to 1968. The response to the call was a success, especially when the chosen space was held in the old Mixed Schools for boys and girls of the time, which fortunately is preserved. Sixty-one years (61) separate the arrival of the distinguished teacher and this sensitive meeting shared by more than thirty attendees.
In those years, upon the arrival of the teacher, the entire town was subject to agricultural work, access to secondary studies was reserved for the few wealthy families, and there was also a stigma to attend the only institute in Arrecife. Going to the capital at that young age meant reducing labor in the fields and was equivalent to acquiring potential vices, influenced by the "gorfines del Puerto." Don José, in this context and with a fairly heterogeneous class group, discovered in his students the abilities to pursue secondary studies and, fundamentally, to convince their parents, with visits to their homes and even on their own farmlands.
As a result of that arduous work inside and outside the classroom by the teacher, more than a dozen boys enjoyed the power to access secondary education. This topic has always been a recurring theme and has always been present in the memory of the town. 'In this return to the classroom,' we shared past moments with the lucid memory of Don José, who spoke with all the attendees one by one, remembering, reliving those moments of happiness, games, and learning. Also, the meeting-snack served to interact with other classmates, who despite the long time that has passed, we cultivate friendship from school days.
The return to the classroom of Don José and the group, with regrettable absences signified by the death of some colleagues, (q.p.d), gave us the opportunity to relive the happy years of childhood with scarce resources, where our playground was the General Highway itself, the eucalyptus trees that were in the area served as oars. The teacher enjoyed reliving all those moments and was interested in the lives of all, satisfied to have trained good people. Grandparents and retirees, mostly, and who have exercised a wide range of professions: taxi drivers, postmen, entrepreneurs, transporters, radio officer, hospitality and banking employees, police officers, municipal workers, builders, carpenters, teachers, doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, etc.
Sergio Saavedra Umpiérrez, teacher, poet, and resident in Tenerife, read some emotional tenths that we reproduce literally:
TEACHER
"I want to capture the moment/ with words and I cannot/ I wish, but I must not/supplant the feelings. / How many memories I find/in these cold walls/ how many hours, how many days/ lived among us/ have unleashed my foals/ eager for poetry. /
Decade of the sixties/ Mácher, agricultural town/ work was the engine/that feeds us all./ Studying with little income/ seemed like a chimera/ but a forger of illusions came to us from outside/ and all hearts/ beat in a different way.
TEACHER, Don José Espino/ a magician of teaching/ who gives us all confidence/ to embark on a path. / Each one with his destiny has unfurled his sails/ and his caravels sail/ seas with a fixed course/ since they have not forgotten/ the example of his SCHOOL.
If life is moments/ that you enjoy with pleasure/we must be grateful/ today for this event./ The memories here inside/ are many and I will give them/ thanks to whoever is or is not/ student or teacher/thanks; organizer/ and thanks to Don José."
We are honored that the teacher left his "school" very excited and grateful for the meeting. To record the organizer J. Antonio Cedrés presented him with a plaque with the following content:
"In gratitude to our ILLUSTRIOUS TEACHER Don José María Espino González who was from the School of Mácher during the period 1961-1968"
Mácher, August 9, 2023
