January 5, 2009
Moved to Tears: Our best day ever in Cuba
Likely our most rewarding day we have ever had in our three trips to Cuba. We accomplished a lot in one day.
We ate our breakfast then once we were back in the room we loaded our bags with medical supplies and cycled out of the resort, up the hill and across the highway into Canasi. It was fairly warm (about 30 degrees C) so we drank a lot of water along the way and took our time. The first stop was down the hill to the primary school. The school administrator came to the gate when we arrived where we asked if we could go in with some gifts for the school. As we walked in, along came the lady I had seen at Boca da Canasi a few days ago. With a big smile she came over and gave us a hug, and then were ushered into the school office where we were asked to sign the guest book. As we flipped through the pages we could see that quite a few other travelers, many of whom were Canadian, had also stopped by the school to visit.
We pulled out last year's photographs of the two classes we had visited and in a flurry of activity we met with these school children to individually hand them their photos one-by-one. Wide-eyed and excited, though very mannerly and ordered, they each peered at the photo until they found themselves in it... which is when the happiest smiles ever to be seen broke out on their faces. I was so moved that I was actually brought to tears.
Back in what looked like the school's lunch room were two ladies who were sorting through rice. Another behind the counter was drizzling sugar syrup over the top of some sweet buns - we later saw all of the kids snacking on them. Then we were asked to wait a moment, for what we were not certain. But a few minutes later an older woman came along from across the road. Not working now, she has a degree in french literature and history. She speaks Spanish, French, Russian, Italian and Czech, so when the teachers found out we were Canadian, they sought her out in case she could translate for us. They were correct. With her being there, we were much more easily able to converse with everyone and had a really great visit.
Now completely excited, the administrator asked me to go to each individual classroom to photograph the groups. Like last year, it was priceless - they all proudly lined up for me and almost bowled their classmates over to see the image on the camera's little screen. Last year's teachers were there and I photographed their classes again. They are sisters, the older of whom is expecting in June. She asked if I could put the photographs onto a DVD and send it to them. I explained that friends are coming in February so I would ask them to bring the disk to the resort. The older sister said they could give the disk to Reynoel who works at the hotel and is her father-in-law. As it turns out, he is the fellow I spoke to the other day at the resort when Lyane introduced us. He was the one who had suggested I donate some of the medicine to the medical centre in Canasi. Perfect!
The staff got the last few of their members together so we could take their pictures, too. Seeing the condition of the school we left a small supply of kids' medicine as well and with a lot of the staff around, we asked that it be shared amongst the school and village but with the consultation of a doctor first, to which they agreed.
Our translator then invited us across the road to meet her 89 year-old mother at their home. Their house was very modest indeed and would lead a person to reconsider a complaint about one's own station in life if it could be agreed that the person's affairs were, in fact, in comparatively good shape.
It was kind of sad, really. As educated as she is, she can't get any work in Canasi, She could get work in Havana as a translator for the Republic of Congo, but she has no place to say in the city so she would have to travel each day. I would estimate her age somewhere between 60 and 70; her mother of 89 heavily relies upon her so staying elsewhere is not an option. As she puts it, she is a prisoner of Canasi. She spoke of her husband who was a professor of economics, but when she became a little teary.
We donated some pain medicine to them and when I asked if I could take a picture of them, she got quite excited and went in to the back room to adjust her head band and apply some lipstick. Then I took a picture of this proud literary scholar and former seamstress in their little home. I was quite moved.
Next, we explained how we had a package of medicine for the local medical centre but that we wanted to ensure that it benefited the whole community and not just one or two people. She actually called the centre to see if her doctor friend was there. She said she trusted him to do this for us. He was there this day, so she walked us to the clinic, pointing out landmarks in the town - the Roman Catholic church, the Baptist Church, her former black school, a commercial building that pre-revolution was a bustling centre of business for the community but is now only a little crumbling bakery.
Then we arrived at the clinic. Worried about our bikes, of course, the police officer who was there to see the doctor said not to worry, but that she would guard the bikes for us while we went in to the clinic. We were ushered into the doctor's office but then a mother and her very quiet-looking baby came in so we were moved to the dispensary. We gave a large supply of medicine and latex gloves - they were visibly moved and asked if we were donating as an organization or privately - and were more moved when we said the donations were private. I took a picture of the staff with the supplies then headed towards the exit, seeing that I had been out of sight with the bikes for a few minutes by now. The staff asked us to come meet the dentist, but when we walked in on him drilling someone's tooth I quickly backed right out feeling a bit woozy, I must add.
I stood outside and chatted with a nurse who was resting on a bench and she asked me if we had any pens but I had given my only pen to the school so I had to say no. But, I decided I would make it a mission to get pens from tourists back at the resort and bring them in to both the centre and the school on another day.
Our translator wanted to show us more of the town but we thanked her for her help and said we would like to return to the hotel before it got too hot out for us, but would certainly return another day. As we rode off we waved a few times and she responded enthusiastically in reply.
The excitement of the morning's adventure propelled us back to the hotel despite the heat. We went for lunch when we got back and ended up meeting a couple from New Zealand who are traveling around the world after having sold everything they own. First will be a trip through South America, then home to Winnipeg to earn some money in their field of IT, then next on to Europe and Asia.
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Today's ride: 15 km (9 miles)
Total: 62 km (39 miles)
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