What is your reason for visiting Cuba? Cuba is, indeed, a diamond in the rough. Past the poverty, the island is beautiful beyond belief – rich in culture, and architecture. However, when you indicate in your tourist card application that your reason to go to Cuba is to “support the Cuban people,” is this really your reason for going, or is it because you want a pretty selfie so you can feel validated?
With each day we were in Cuba, I became more and more aware of how obscene we truly live our lives. We want everything we do not need, the latest luxuries and gadgets. We stuff our homes, our closets, with things we have no human necessity for. We waste excessive amounts of food, without any thought, on a daily basis. As I would stand on the terrace of our beautifully renovated AirB&B “casa” in Old Havana and would look at the surrounding poverty – the children trying to look up into the apartment every time we would go in and out- the sadness in my heart and the feeling of despair would grow deeper, and darker.
As the days passed, and we continued to meet people, some would open up and give us a little glimpse about the realities of Cuba. The reality its people live in: days or weeks eating only rice and eggs as there is nothing else available; no access to clean water (one of the reasons why I became very sick); working 12-18 hrs a day for three months so that they can buy a t-shirt. The list of heartbreaking things goes on, and on, and on.
Excelente escrito de la realidad mi pais. Hay que ir a Cuba y vivir con el pueblo para saber la realidad de lo que se vive alli. He llorado con este escrito pues me identifico mucho con el. Dios te bendiga grandemente.