The Town Hall of the orotava presented this Thursday, March 9, 2023, a sculpture in honor of childhood and the project to transform the Plaza Poeta Miguel Hernándezin the lower area of The Mayorazgo, in a new inclusive playground of more than one thousand square meters. The sculptor’s work Jose Luis Pacheco Hernandez can be seen in one of the margins of this park, where they plan to invest soon about 300,000 euros to provide it with play areas accessible to all. This new space will have similarities with the El Laurel park, located in Cross portwhich with almost 6,000 square meters became the largest inclusive leisure space on the island in 2019.
the mayor villero, Francisco Linares (CC), announced that the new project has already been drafted, but it will have to be put out to tender in the next term, after the May 28 elections. “The work can be carried out in eight or nine monthsso it could be finished during the next year 2024,” stressed the president.
La Orotava is a Child Friendly City and the sculpture presented this Thursday intends to pay homage to the thousands of boys and girls who live in the municipality. The sculptor José Luis Pacheco has used materials such as metal and TXT mortar to represent “a world full of creativity, dreams and innocence”which is represented with butterflies that sprout from the pages of a book, and is completed with figures of boys and girls who jump rope or fly kites, a tribute that also recalls how the little ones had fun in the past.
The presentation was attended by Francisco Linares; the Councilor for Social Welfare, Belen Gonzalezand the president of Unicef in the Canary Islands, Rosa Gloria Suarezas well as with other members of the government group and the municipal Corporation, such as the socialist mayors Maria Jesus Alonso and Samuel Mesa; the sculptor Jose Luis Pacheco and members of the Municipal Council for Children of La Orotava.
Linares highlighted the symbolic importance of this sculptural complex, visible from one of the main entrances to the municipality, and of the second park project one hundred percent inclusive of the municipality, after the one inaugurated in August 2022 in the Carmenaty-Viña Los Frailes area. Last year, San Juan Bosco Parkof 2,300 square meters, was rehabilitated and adapted with games for everyone thanks to an investment of 145,000 euros.
The president of Unicef in the Canary Islands, Rosa Gloria Suarezcongratulated the town council for “the constant and exemplary work they carry out in favor of the rights of the boys and girls of the Villa”, as well as for giving them “the tools and the leading role they should have, which allows them to the orotava be recognized as a Child Friendly City”. A recognition that the Villa shares with other Tenerife towns such as Los Realejos, Tegueste or San Cristóbal de La Laguna.
He United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) emphasizes on its website that “a Child-Friendly City is any city, town, community or local government system committed to fulfilling the rights of girls, boys and adolescents in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child».
The Villa of La Orotava It currently has 58 parks or children’s play areas, as well as numerous inclusive elements, which facilitate the leisure of children with functional diversity. Some 200 square meters of the Poeta Miguel Hernández park were set up in 2015 as the first dog park in the town, but the location did not work out and they opted to place it in a larger space for exclusive use in the San Jerónimo industrial estate.
