Edwin and I went back to our room after a long, hot day and he said to me, "you see why I don't belong here?".
I replied, "no one belongs here".
We just got back from a trip that I never thought I would take. It was a journey to the center of the earth. Maybe it was the heat, or maybe it was the sound of an old car radio playing Hotel California, but I think we may have been close to "that" place.
Before I go on, I want to say that we received nothing but love from the people of this country. That their suffering is now mine and that I pray for them, their safety and ultimately, their freedom.
We didn't find a single communist in Cuba during our two week trip. We did find much heartache: broken families, misery, beggars, destruction. Only the Grace of God can keep those people safe from disease in a place that boasts of zero infant mortality and other health related lies. Where doctors make the equivalent of $25 USD per month and are jailed if a patient dies while in their care. Next door to where we stayed lives a good doctor and family friend, who had been on call 24 hours a day for 2 weeks. Her kids were the poorest kids on their block until her husband defected about 2 years ago. He sends her money, but he can't come back and she has requested to leave, but the punishment (purgatory) is from 5 - 10 years. In the meantime, while she waits, her directors threaten her daily and her children grow up with out a father and not any less poor.
There is no internet access in Cuba. Only a select group of people get some kind of dial up for email only. No surfing the web. If you have "a contact", they will charge you $80 USD per month for 1 hour x day of internet access. And don't get me started on how I feel about the embargo... an insult to the intelligence of the Cuban exiles and the Cuban people, but if lifted, things would not be any better. Where there is no purchasing power and zero opportunity for upward mobility, more "stuff" won't help. It would only create another level of poverty. The government doesn't care for (hates) the people. Even with the "embargo" things come in through countries like Venezuela, Brazil and others, but only citizens with access to dollars, euros or other foreign currency can have limited access, if any, to the left overs that the government decides to put on the shelves at the so-called stores.
Hospital waste gets dumped into a River which drains into the ocean just near the public beach. Medicine there is barbaric. No epidurals for natural birth. They prefer to perform c-sections on all women. Babies whose mothers can't breastfeed have to drink regular powdered milk - no formula available. Diapers, any hygiene product, milk (any), oil, soap, oatmeal, etc. are scarce if at all available. Only available in the stores where you pay with CUC's which is a currency that they have invented - the exchange rate is about usd $0.85 to 1 CUC and 1 CUC is about 25 Cuban Pesos. That means that in order to buy 1 can of condensed milk at CUC 3.00, our friend the doctor would have to invest 1 month's salary to make a Natilla or Flan.
Looking out onto the ocean, I can't help but feel the same agony that I see in their faces. The situation there is so complicated because the only way to survive is to stick together, but sticking together means people have to give up their hopes of some day becoming a real human being away from that place. The government has been successful at separating and ultimately destroying the family unit. Once that is lost, everything else falls apart and the enemy can begin the work of invading society with malice and immorality. Standards are lowered to the point that selling yourself to feed your children is something that I can't condone, but I will not condemn. In some cases the church has become too busy requiring certain actions from it's members and condemning the lost instead of living out the Great Commandment.
Only the Grace of Jesus and the hope of Heaven is keeping these people sane, although, the doctors will tell you that everyone is on depression and pain meds. From their early 20's to the elderly.
I hope that our trip to Cuba was a blessing to at least one person. We were breaking paradigms and spreading Love in the name of Jesus. We gave away many smiles and hours of listening to story after story of death, divorce, disease and devastation. What is undeniable is that this trip was a blessing for us, as we were able to witness real people living by Faith alone.
No one belongs in that place. Please pray for our friends.
John 10:10 - "The
thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come
that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
