If you are in the South on 6,7,8th of June you might want to stop by the Flower Festival on La Rambla of Las Galletas. The festival includes flower arranging classes and a kids activity area, a photography section and an evening musical performance.
The last event in Las Galletas which boasted a kids’ activity area was actually a bit of a disappointment as there was not much in the small padded square that would have entertained any kid more than 2 years old for less than a nano-second so don’t rely on popping your kids into the play park and serenely sailing through the stalls of gorgeous blooms. Still, you may pick up some pretty bargains for the garden here as well as (if the festival runs true to history) local handicraft items.
However, Lina Vargas has a very different opinion about the medical facilities available in the South of Tenerife especially those which are available to babies and children. Lina’s granddaughter fell ill in the evening and there was neither a paediatric doctor in the South on duty at that time nor an ambulance available to rush the child to the Children’s Unit in the North. Though an ambulance was supposed to be sent at high speed from Candelaria it never came.
Tragically, little Pilar died that night, her tiny body a mass of pin pricks where a non-paediatric nurse and doctor had tried to raise her tiny veins.
Lina blames Pilar’s death on the lack of paediatric facilities in the South and has written the song above to commemorate Pilar and call for change. She feels that if her song is to be heard and more facilites made available round the clock to children in the South, that if one child is saved because of this, then little Pilar will not have died in vain.
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