My husband, Fitz, and I went to Cuba in December of 2003 with ten other members of the United Methodist Volunteers In Mission. The team members were from several Conferences of the Southeast Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. Our team leader was the Reverend Nick Elliot, a member of the South Carolina Conference and Southeastern UMVIM Director...
We flew from Miami to Havana on a Gulfstream plane. We were met by a young woman who was the Volunteers in Mission coordinator in Cuba and our guide and translator for the entire trip. There were no problems getting through Immigration and Customs in the Havana airport.
We stayed overnight at the Methodist Center which holds the Cuba Conference offices. The next morning we loaded into the Methodist Center's bus and headed east for Camp Canaan in the Santa Clara Province. From the Center our driver took us along the Malecon of Havana so that we could see the lovely old buildings along the ocean drive and El Morro castle, built in 1589 to guard the Havana harbor.
Camp Canaan is a Methodist Retreat Center where the Annual Conference and many other meetings and conferences are held. It is ten miles outside of the city of Santa Clara, about 250 miles east of Havana.
Santa Clara is an old colonial town and famous because after a battle there in 1958 the detested dictator Baptista fled the country
As a result Fidel Castro and his followers took over the government of Cuba. What many thought was a good thing to be rid of Baptista turned very sad when in 1960 Castro announced that the government was communistic and atheist. Many Cubans fled to the United States including most of the clergy of the island's churches. Worship was allowed in established sanctuaries but schools and parsonages were confiscated by the government. Repairing of standing churches was prohibited. In many communities women took over leading congregations and services were held in homes.
In 1990 Castro issued a public apology to Christians for the persecution they had suffered. The Methodist Church began to experience a great revival. Young people and children began looking to the church for hope. Permission was granted to repair and rebuild church facilities which were in bad shape after 30 years of neglect. The Methodist Church of Cuba was permitted to invite church guests and with an agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department the United Methodist Church was permitted to send Volunteers In Mission teams to Cuba. They provided funds and human resources to repair many churches and began building Camp Canaan.
In 1993 the Church in Cuba, the United Methodist Volunteers In Mission, and the Cuba government developed a plan to send teams of working missionaries to Cuba to assist the church there to rebuild their assets. Twelve teams of twelve members each are allowed during a year: six to work at Canaan and 6 to repair existing churches else where in the country. Camp Canaan was the only project the Cuban Government authorized to build new. The camp can accommodate 700 people and is offered to other denominations for their needs.
In May of 2002 Cuba dedicated its first "new church" in over 40 years. About 4,000 people from all over Cuba came to the celebration, and 95 American VIM'ers who had assisted in the building of the camp and the church attended.
Our team assignment (we thought) was to lay the cement floor for a swimming pool. The camp is in the middle of the country and not near a coast for cool dips. The Director of the physical plant at the camp, Oreste, had chosen a deep ravine as the site for the pool. He decided that before work could begin on the pool a drainage system had to be built carry off rain water. Thus the team started digging a 70 foot long, 32 inches wide, and 18 inches deep trench to hold drainage pipes.
My job was to use a stick that Oreste had notched at the above measurements and check up and down the trench to see how much had been dug out, how much more needed to be dug out. This was finished by lunch time, so everyone felt pretty good about our accomplishment. However, Oreste had decided that the trench needed to be deeper and wider and the team resumed digging.
Oreste had learned, as had many others in Cuba, that if something became available that you knew you would need someday, you bought it then and there. You might never find it again. Because of the U.S. Embargo materials and supplies of all kinds were very rare. So the pipes had been lying in the grass near the church for some time.
A neighboring farmer, Rafael, brought his team of oxen to move the pipes to the pool site. It was fascinating to watch him work the oxen. He taught a couple of the team how to handle them and they had a grand time bringing the oxen with the pipes down into the ravine. Rafael rents his oxen to other farmers for plowing and he is a professional photographer.
Many Cubans have small private enterprises to provide themselves more income.
The other woman on the team, Patti, and I decided we were not all that useful at ditch digging and asked if we might help elsewhere. Over the next few days we had various duties. We dumped a five gallon container of rice on a table in an open passage way next to the kitchen, sorted out the bad grains, and threw them on the ground for the chickens. We had a good time visiting with the cooks, even with the language problem. They kept us well fed which was more than we expected because of food ration-ing. There were several farms nearby and the camp raised chickens and hogs so there was sufficient food.
That afternoon we helped Jorge, the worship leader at a church we had visited, place red, curved tile on a frame to create an entry to our dormitory. The next day we started helping two local women sand down the wooden sides of the Church that were weather worn and needed a fresh coat of shellac.
On Saturday the cooks prepared a picnic lunch and we boarded the bus for a trip to the Caribbean coast. On the way we visited the town of Trinidad, founded in 1514. In all our travels we saw many elegant tour buses filled with European tourists. Tourism has helped keep Cuba afloat economically.
Sunday we attended an old, large Methodist church in Santa Clara. It was packed....folding chairs in the aisles and in front of the chancel. The service was inspirational with much praying, singing, and young people presenting liturgical dance and skits, and then the sermon. When the congregation poured out into the street after the service to visit with each other I was flabbergasted to realize we had been worshiping for three hours. Then I noticed that the Communist Party headquarters was right next door to the church!
During the week we attended three services at house churches while we were at Camp Canaan. One was held in an enclosed carport, one in a back yard (in light rain), and one in a lean-to against the side of a house. Each church has a Worship Leader who opens the service with prayers and songs and a Pastor. Often they are husband and wife. The Church is alive and well and growing in Cuba.
In the days that followed the digging and the laying of pipe continued until there were five pipes in the ground and the site was ready for the next team to come in and start pouring the cement for the pool.
Our last evening at the camp I walked out to see the finished work: trenches filled and smoothed over.
I passed by a man who was hacking at something with a machete. He smiled and said, "now that that job is finished tomorrow you can start on the pool." When I said that we were leaving in the morning he stepped over, hugged me, and thanked me for being there. And then he apologized for cutting down a small tree to use for cooking because "the petrol is so expensive." Hugs like that make 10 days of cold showers a privilege.
On our way back to Havana we decided to go by the way of Mantanzas on the north coast to visit the Seminary there that is sponsored by the Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Methodist churches. It is an attractive campus, complete with garden for vegetables.
Back in Havana we did the tourist things, shopping, seeing the Capitol, Baptista's palace - now a museum, walking down sixteenth century streets, seeing Hemingway's home, before heading home (for hot showers!) Automobiles had not been imported into Cuba since the Embargo was put in place. As a result there were many 1956 - 1958 Chevys and Fords that have had exquisite care for over forty years in the streets and lots of horse drawn buggies and bicycles, some with sidecars.
Getting through Customs in Miami was a hassle because President Bush had ordered that every piece of luggage coming from Cuba be searched. You never can tell - we might have had Soviet missiles in our bags.
We fell in love with Cuba and her people. The Cubans obviously lack much and are careful in what they say, but they are proud and pleased of the progress that has been made in literacy, health care, and housing and quick to tell you that the Mafia and prostitution are long gone and so is racial discrimination. They do not want to lose these achievements. They are clever at making do with what they have on hand. They are loving and easy to love. We did not see a shantytown like in San Juan and other Latin cities. We saw no litter or trash in the streets. There were no roadblocks, no armed guards, no soldiers, no one asking for IDs or questioning our traveling around the country side and wandering around the streets of three cities. All is not good, but the people have hope and faith.
More information on Cuba
We flew from Miami to Havana on a Gulfstream plane. We were met by a young woman who was the Volunteers in Mission coordinator in Cuba and our guide and translator for the entire trip. There were no problems getting through Immigration and Customs in the Havana airport.
We stayed overnight at the Methodist Center which holds the Cuba Conference offices. The next morning we loaded into the Methodist Center's bus and headed east for Camp Canaan in the Santa Clara Province. From the Center our driver took us along the Malecon of Havana so that we could see the lovely old buildings along the ocean drive and El Morro castle, built in 1589 to guard the Havana harbor.
Camp Canaan is a Methodist Retreat Center where the Annual Conference and many other meetings and conferences are held. It is ten miles outside of the city of Santa Clara, about 250 miles east of Havana.
Santa Clara is an old colonial town and famous because after a battle there in 1958 the detested dictator Baptista fled the country
As a result Fidel Castro and his followers took over the government of Cuba. What many thought was a good thing to be rid of Baptista turned very sad when in 1960 Castro announced that the government was communistic and atheist. Many Cubans fled to the United States including most of the clergy of the island's churches. Worship was allowed in established sanctuaries but schools and parsonages were confiscated by the government. Repairing of standing churches was prohibited. In many communities women took over leading congregations and services were held in homes.
In 1990 Castro issued a public apology to Christians for the persecution they had suffered. The Methodist Church began to experience a great revival. Young people and children began looking to the church for hope. Permission was granted to repair and rebuild church facilities which were in bad shape after 30 years of neglect. The Methodist Church of Cuba was permitted to invite church guests and with an agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department the United Methodist Church was permitted to send Volunteers In Mission teams to Cuba. They provided funds and human resources to repair many churches and began building Camp Canaan.
In 1993 the Church in Cuba, the United Methodist Volunteers In Mission, and the Cuba government developed a plan to send teams of working missionaries to Cuba to assist the church there to rebuild their assets. Twelve teams of twelve members each are allowed during a year: six to work at Canaan and 6 to repair existing churches else where in the country. Camp Canaan was the only project the Cuban Government authorized to build new. The camp can accommodate 700 people and is offered to other denominations for their needs.
In May of 2002 Cuba dedicated its first "new church" in over 40 years. About 4,000 people from all over Cuba came to the celebration, and 95 American VIM'ers who had assisted in the building of the camp and the church attended.
Our team assignment (we thought) was to lay the cement floor for a swimming pool. The camp is in the middle of the country and not near a coast for cool dips. The Director of the physical plant at the camp, Oreste, had chosen a deep ravine as the site for the pool. He decided that before work could begin on the pool a drainage system had to be built carry off rain water. Thus the team started digging a 70 foot long, 32 inches wide, and 18 inches deep trench to hold drainage pipes.
My job was to use a stick that Oreste had notched at the above measurements and check up and down the trench to see how much had been dug out, how much more needed to be dug out. This was finished by lunch time, so everyone felt pretty good about our accomplishment. However, Oreste had decided that the trench needed to be deeper and wider and the team resumed digging.
Oreste had learned, as had many others in Cuba, that if something became available that you knew you would need someday, you bought it then and there. You might never find it again. Because of the U.S. Embargo materials and supplies of all kinds were very rare. So the pipes had been lying in the grass near the church for some time.
A neighboring farmer, Rafael, brought his team of oxen to move the pipes to the pool site. It was fascinating to watch him work the oxen. He taught a couple of the team how to handle them and they had a grand time bringing the oxen with the pipes down into the ravine. Rafael rents his oxen to other farmers for plowing and he is a professional photographer.
Many Cubans have small private enterprises to provide themselves more income.
The other woman on the team, Patti, and I decided we were not all that useful at ditch digging and asked if we might help elsewhere. Over the next few days we had various duties. We dumped a five gallon container of rice on a table in an open passage way next to the kitchen, sorted out the bad grains, and threw them on the ground for the chickens. We had a good time visiting with the cooks, even with the language problem. They kept us well fed which was more than we expected because of food ration-ing. There were several farms nearby and the camp raised chickens and hogs so there was sufficient food.
That afternoon we helped Jorge, the worship leader at a church we had visited, place red, curved tile on a frame to create an entry to our dormitory. The next day we started helping two local women sand down the wooden sides of the Church that were weather worn and needed a fresh coat of shellac.
On Saturday the cooks prepared a picnic lunch and we boarded the bus for a trip to the Caribbean coast. On the way we visited the town of Trinidad, founded in 1514. In all our travels we saw many elegant tour buses filled with European tourists. Tourism has helped keep Cuba afloat economically.
Sunday we attended an old, large Methodist church in Santa Clara. It was packed....folding chairs in the aisles and in front of the chancel. The service was inspirational with much praying, singing, and young people presenting liturgical dance and skits, and then the sermon. When the congregation poured out into the street after the service to visit with each other I was flabbergasted to realize we had been worshiping for three hours. Then I noticed that the Communist Party headquarters was right next door to the church!
During the week we attended three services at house churches while we were at Camp Canaan. One was held in an enclosed carport, one in a back yard (in light rain), and one in a lean-to against the side of a house. Each church has a Worship Leader who opens the service with prayers and songs and a Pastor. Often they are husband and wife. The Church is alive and well and growing in Cuba.
In the days that followed the digging and the laying of pipe continued until there were five pipes in the ground and the site was ready for the next team to come in and start pouring the cement for the pool.
Our last evening at the camp I walked out to see the finished work: trenches filled and smoothed over.
I passed by a man who was hacking at something with a machete. He smiled and said, "now that that job is finished tomorrow you can start on the pool." When I said that we were leaving in the morning he stepped over, hugged me, and thanked me for being there. And then he apologized for cutting down a small tree to use for cooking because "the petrol is so expensive." Hugs like that make 10 days of cold showers a privilege.
On our way back to Havana we decided to go by the way of Mantanzas on the north coast to visit the Seminary there that is sponsored by the Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Methodist churches. It is an attractive campus, complete with garden for vegetables.
Back in Havana we did the tourist things, shopping, seeing the Capitol, Baptista's palace - now a museum, walking down sixteenth century streets, seeing Hemingway's home, before heading home (for hot showers!) Automobiles had not been imported into Cuba since the Embargo was put in place. As a result there were many 1956 - 1958 Chevys and Fords that have had exquisite care for over forty years in the streets and lots of horse drawn buggies and bicycles, some with sidecars.
Getting through Customs in Miami was a hassle because President Bush had ordered that every piece of luggage coming from Cuba be searched. You never can tell - we might have had Soviet missiles in our bags.
We fell in love with Cuba and her people. The Cubans obviously lack much and are careful in what they say, but they are proud and pleased of the progress that has been made in literacy, health care, and housing and quick to tell you that the Mafia and prostitution are long gone and so is racial discrimination. They do not want to lose these achievements. They are clever at making do with what they have on hand. They are loving and easy to love. We did not see a shantytown like in San Juan and other Latin cities. We saw no litter or trash in the streets. There were no roadblocks, no armed guards, no soldiers, no one asking for IDs or questioning our traveling around the country side and wandering around the streets of three cities. All is not good, but the people have hope and faith.
More information on Cuba
Leave a comment