Island connections 805 FLN 72

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September 21 – October 4, 2017 César Manrique

Water management

Facing Summerland, just off the roundabout at the Language School

£

$

Face it!

Lanzarote‘s favourite son

Hydroelectricity and clean waste

Technology and psychology

Pages 10 to 13

Page 19

Pages 26 & 27

Street life

Poorly ranked

Careless healthcare For the second time in a row, healthcare in the Canaries has been ranked among the worst in the country. The results are according to a study which has been regularly conducted by the Federation of Associations in Defence of Public Healthcare (FADSP) over the last 10 years. Various parameters are taken into account for the reckoning, such as funding, the right to recourse, functioning of health resources, pharmaceutical expenditure, public opinion, waiting lists and private healthcare.

Photo: Sanidad

Continued on page two

Patients are waiting longer for results, specialist medical appointments and even surgery

No place called home Homelessness is a subject that often invites prejudice and scorn but is not one that can be ignored, even here in the ‘Paradise Islands’. Sadly, terms such as ‘alcoholics, criminals, bums and wasters’ are ones which spring to many people’s minds when confronted with the topic – or worse, an actual homeless person. Yet, many of those living on the streets are doing so because they have no choice, have nowhere else to go, and have been unable to find the help they need from the authorities. Javi, a resident of Puerto de La Cruz, known locally as ‘El Canarión’, is a prime example. Born in Gran Canaria, Javi had a house, a job and a partner, and as an employee he paid into the social security system for over a decade. He did, in fact, live a very normal life. Then Javi and his partner split up and he lost everything. He moved to Tenerife to start again,

Javi sells his jewellery at Playa Jardín

first to Santa Cruz and later to Puerto, where he has lived and survived for the last 10 years. He scratches out a living by selling homemade leather and gem-

stone jewellery every morning in Playa Jardín. “Oh, you’re so lucky to live here with your dogs, selling your jewellery under the palm trees. We envy you this Bohe-

mian lifestyle”, foreign customers frequently tell him in winter. “They don’t realise that I didn’t choose this situation. I am forced to live like this and it has little to do with nostalgia and freedom”, Javi said. At first he lived in the old bus station. “I was there with an old man. Everybody knew him as ‘El Seville’. He was sick and I took care of him. We created a small home there, and there was water and electricity. We had furniture, a fridge and a television - all things that were given to us by friends. We were doing all right. We kept our little nest clean and were satisfied. Then El Seville died and the paramedics picked him up. A little later, I was thrown out, supposed ‘risk of collapse’ of the building. I left everything behind; I didn’t have a place to take it with me to. Only my faithful dog Lola was my companion. Continued on page two


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