To go to the Haydée Santamaría Cuadrado cultural centre in the city of Morón is to meet Yamila Tomasa Ferrá Gómez, an outstanding educator and writer.
Talking to her is always fascinating, because her broad knowledge of history and literature gives Yamila, in her way of talking, a magnetism that is difficult to describe, and from which few can escape. With her there is no subject that is boring or distant, she always finds a new way to explain the most complex issues of this society.
A native of Sierra de Cubitas, in the province of Camagüey, Tomasa is a native of Morón by conviction, hence her love for this city that has seen her grow as a professional.
«I came to this land in 1996. I have spent most of my teaching career here. The pre-university institute in the Eulogio Fernández camp was the first educational institution where I worked in Morón, then I worked in other centres, until I arrived at the Benito Llanes Recino municipal university, and this house of culture, where I work as a literary advisor».
– How did your vocation for teaching come about?
– It began when I was in 11th grade. Where I was studying, there were recruitments for the pedagogical detachment, and although there was no tradition of teaching in my family, I sat and passed the exam.
«Already in 12th grade I was inclined to study history and Marxism. I graduated with a degree in 1990, so this year I am celebrating 35 years as a teacher, which is the essence of my life. To teach other people is the most beautiful thing a human being can do, to transmit what you know, to prepare them to investigate a certain subject, for the student to form his own criteria and to see its practical application. There is no greater satisfaction… without a doubt, I would always be a teacher».
– When does the approach to literature occur?
– It happened when I was very young, I was about 12 years old when I wrote my first poem, since then I couldn’t stop writing. It was my father who first read my work and gave me the right suggestions. I owe my love for literature to him. He taught me to read, and I was able to discover true classics.
– Las Palabras Son Naufragio is your first published book.
– After sending poems to publishers for a long time and being rejected, a friend gave me the news that Ediciones Ávila had accepted this copy, and the satisfaction was truly immense. The book is about the nakedness of the soul that is inevitable in this journey through life.
To the question «What is your best poem? He answered me in verse.
«I want to write to you and I come up with Neruda, Tula, Benedetti, Cernuda or Mistral, or perhaps, that foam of which the poet spoke. On the threshold of the 21st century, everything has already been said, or almost everything».
He pauses, like someone who wants to swallow all his emotions in a single breath, and says:
«This poem is called Carta de Amor, it was my father’s favourite; he used to send it to literary competitions, even without my knowing it. Whenever I declaim it, a lot of feelings come to the surface. My work carries a load of my essence, of who I am as a person… as a woman».
As the conversation came to an end, Yamila took out her mobile phone from a bag, and in a slow voice read one of her poems; in the background, a piano could be heard whimsically being played in one of the rehearsal rooms of the cultural institution.
«Body asleep on blood
mistress of pain
mistress of the bends that lead to tears
my name is Frida […]
my bones are broken
some cooked with dew
I have the memory of the scream
they are ribbons in my hair that I braid
with the hands of women
who call me Frida […]
I break my howl in the night
the women stampede away.
My name is Frida».
