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miggymofongo

Luz y Amor

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Feb 15, 2024

During my last bit of free time before the official start of the delegation, I checked out Proyecto Sociocultural Quisicuaba with Kelvin.

Feb 2, 2024

As sleep deficient as I was yesterday, I agreed to join Kelvin and two supporters of the Martin Luther King Center for dinner and live Jazz at Eclectico Restaurante Italiano.

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I was nodding off the whole way back to my room at the center. I hit the bed like a pile of bricks, waking up this morning feeling refreshed and ready to change the world!

The delegation officially starts this evening with an orientation scheduled for 5pm. Until the rest of the delegates arrived, I was free to explore! After a cup of coffee and a few minutes of jump rope, I left with Kelvin into the city for a side quest to check out Proyecto Cumunitario Quisicuaba. Juan scooped us up around 9, stopping on the way to pick up a beautician we got acquainted with over dinner last night. The more, the merrier!

Proyecto Comunitario Quisicuaba Founded in 1953, Proyecto Comunitario Quisicuaba is a mutual aid organization in Central Havana that provides hot meals, transitional housing, occupational training and social work services for the surrounding community. The name "Quisicuaba" is a combination of "kissi" and "cuaba", referencing the Kissis ethnic group of freed Black folks from Angola who settled in Habana and built their homes with hard wood from the Cuaba tree. Their objectives are to:

  1. promote sustainable development and participation of the community in health, education, values, and identity
  2. promote and preserve Cuban cultural heritage and optimize potential of its citizens

Single moms, "habitantes de la calle" (what they call the unhoused population), and other marginalized groups line up every day at 10am for a hot meal made with donations from organizations around the world. In the Santo Antonio municipality, they run an agro-centric assisted living center where with a focus on sovereignty and sustainability. Their motto, "luz y amor" (light and love), lies at the heart of their philosophy and guides their programming.

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The vice president, Lien Lucía García Miranda, gave Kelvin and I and Meibis (the beautician from dinner last night) a tour, breaking down how their, kitchen, museum, and technical high school program preserve Cuban culture and counteract the blockade. I played translator between Kelvin and the staff as he asked questions to plan the iteniary for the next group trip he is putting together.

The technical school next door to the museum trains youth ages 15-16 in electrical wiring, masonry, and sewing. They are currently forced to teach a class of 50 students how to use a computer with a single desktop computer because of the blockade and lack of available computer parts. Hearing this had a big impact on me when I heard it because I'm in the middle of learning web development. It is truly unjust that in this hyperconnected world Cuban children are expected to learn in these conditions. Kelvin graciously noted that he would include some sort of material support around this in the iteniary for the trip he is planning later this year.

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We ended the visit with lunch, making sure to thank them for their hospitality and promising to return. Kelvin expressing that he was going to organize material support around computer parts reminded me of the time I photographed Oscar Lopez Rivera in Loiza, Puerto Rico with the mayor as they set up a similar donation with a New York-based foundation. I'm inspired by the examples of "luz y amor" these legendary organizers provide while motivated to organizing structural changes in my community that will eliminate this need to begin with!

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