San Juan residents pitch in with cleanup, lifting their own spirits
When Paula Paulino saw the destruction that hurricane Maria left in its wake at the once-lush Rio Piedras main campus of the University of Puerto Rico, she felt empty and lost.
But then the art history major picked up a rake. She joined an army of students, parents, alumni, and faculty helping to clear fallen trees and gather the debris of the 100-year storm that walloped the university as it did the entire island.
And suddenly she found herself feeling hopeful, that maybe everything wasn’t lost after all.
“This college is really the only place I can call home, so it’s important to me that it is repaired and starts working again,” says Ms. Paulino, sporting a t-shirt reading “mi casa, mi iupi” – roughly “my house, my university.”
“I think if so many students and others came out
New growthCommunity spiritEven in capital, signs of distressDepending on one anotherFear of rising emigration
