For doctors, it is a miracle. This is how they refer to the recovery of Leila, the Argentine teenager who two months ago jumped with her twin sister from a third-floor balcony in Sallent, the town where they lived.
The 12-year-old girls jumped hand in hand. Leila suffered numerous injuries and fractures but she survived. Her twin, Alana, doesn't.
It happened on February 21, when they returned home from the Llobregat de Sallent Public Institute, where they were harassed for speaking "with an Argentine accent." They were in their first year there and they were having a hard time.
For this reason, that Tuesday in February, at the door of the building where they lived at the entrance to the town, they said goodbye to a friend from school with too many hugs. They left a couple of handwritten letters for their parents, pulled two chairs up to the balcony railing, and jumped off.
Alana was very clear about what she wanted, as she wrote: "I want to be happy, but obviously I am going to suffer this for the rest of my life and I made the decision not to continue," she said about the bullying that tormented her.
“You know how much I love my sister. I saw all the 'bullying' she suffers, I'm going to do what she decides. I am going to accompany her where she wants, ”Leila's letter said that, when she fell, she would have instinctively put her hands in front of her to protect herself from the impact.
Despite this, he arrived at the Parc Taulí hospital in Sabadell, 55 kilometers from Sallent, with a destroyed lung, a broken jaw and several fractures. She remained there until March 30, when she was discharged.
Today he continues his rehabilitation in another clinic. Her life is not in danger and the doctors cannot believe how well she is recovering after falling from a height of three stories.
The twins' birthday was March 7, 14 days after they jumped into the void. Leila turned 13 under the effect of sedatives and without knowing it. But since she opened her eyes, her health improves day by day.
The tragedy of the twin sisters of Sallent is becoming a turning point in the Catalan educational system.
As recognized by the Ministry of Education, since Leila's suicide attempt and Alana's death, notices of bullying have tripled. Until January 23, the Support Unit for Students in Situations of Violence (USAV) had received calls for 127 possible cases of violence, 46 of which argued bullying. From that date to March 20, there were 241 complaints of violence, of which 125 were for alleged "bullying."
In addition, from the next school year -in Catalonia classes begin in September and end in June-, in all Catalan schools there will be a "Reference for Coexistence": a Coexistence and Well-being coordinator who will work on the early detection of violence and bullying in the classroom.
Why at the Llobregat Public Institute no one contained the situation suffered by the twins
“From the information we have, the harassment had not been detected. Therefore, we cannot say that it existed," the mayor of Sallent, Oriol Ribalta, told Clarín the day after the twins jumped into the void.
But the police reports prepared by the Mossos d'Esquadra, which are the Catalan police, confirmed that the pre-adolescents were victims of bullying.
Even the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, admitted to this newspaper: "A tragic event like this is a failure of society."
The investigation, in the hands of the Investigating Court number 5 of Manresa -on duty that February 21-, continues its progress. A statement was taken from the parents of the girls, Lucas and Maia, and the director of the school they attended, Josep Olivella, was also summoned to testify, who will not direct the center again, according to the General Secretary of Education of the Government of Catalonia, Patrícia Gomà.
Leila improves. Lucas and Maia hope to be able to travel soon with her and Amadeo, her 10-year-old brother, to Argentina.
They long to return to Mar del Plata, from where they emigrated three years ago and where their loved ones are waiting for them. They want the ashes of Alana, the twin who died when she fell from the balcony, to rest in the city where she was born.
