Hola all:
The TV coverage here in Cuba on the impact of Hurricanes Gustav and
Ike is very instructive, not just in showing clearly the extent of
damages, but in giving a sense of the feelings and spirit of the
people through many, many different testimonies. I notice that in
much of the reporting outside the country, there’s not much
commentary on this aspect, which is as important – if not more so in
the long run – as the statistics on damages.
One comment repeated over and over by men, women, old, young, often
while standing in front of a pile of rubble that was once their home,
often in tears, is that they know that their country, their
Revolution, won’t abandon them in their time of need. For instance,
as of yesterday (Tuesday) noon, some 88% of the population was
receiving electricity – in many areas by generators (part of Cuba’s
Energy Revolution as well as preparing for disasters – although many
parts of Las Tunas, Holguin, Camaguey, Pinar del Rio and Isla de la
Juventud are still with difficulties.
Yesterday, I was also struck by another comment made by an elderly
gentleman in Holguin, I think it was, who said (on TV) that Cubans
have long known how to help other people in need elsewhere in the
world, and that he’s confident that they won’t hesitate to help each
other in this great time of need.
And this is indeed what is happening. For example, in Havana, the
entire city is in the process of being organized at the grassroots
level to give people-to-people assistance to the provinces of Pinar
del Rio and Provincia Habana, with different municipalities being
“twinned” with designated areas in these two provinces. This is
happening elsewhere in the country, with provinces and areas that are
less affected helping those provinces and areas near them that are
more affected. It’s a “people’s response” above and beyond the
professional brigades of electricians, construction workers and
others who are being sent from one area to another, and it’s being
done through the mass organizations such as the Committees in Defense
of the Revolution (CDRs), the Cuban Women’s Federation (FMC), zonal
groups, residents’ groups, etc.
Meetings are starting to take place at the circumscription levels,
such as what happened Sunday night (14th) in La Ceiba, located along
the Almendares River in the Puentes Grandes areas of Playa
Municipality here in Havana. My friend Caridad, who lives there and
who is a social worker and local community organizer, told me about
the three different meetings that were held throughout the day, with
three different circumscriptions. Some 60 to 70 people attended each
meeting, with discussions ranging around the need for solidarity, the
need for local clean up as quickly as possible, and the need to help
others. The first task to be done was cleaning up the neighbourhoods
of rubble and fallen branches. Some days earlier trucks and tractors
had passed through residential and other areas collecting the heavier
debris, but there was still lots of leaves and smaller branches all
over the place. After the clean up, a clothing drive will take place
in La Ceiba (and elsewhere) organized by the Women’s Federation. And
today, Caridad told me that in the municipality of 10 de Octuber,
people are starting to organize donations of household goods for
communities in the municipality of Alquizar, located in the central
southwestern part of Provincia Habana.
In my own neighbourhood, Vedado, located in Plaza Municipality, we
did the final clean-up on Sunday, and now we’re waiting for
notification of when the circumscriptions will be meeting.
It’s small stuff, eh? The immense needs all over the country – some
people being evacuated at the last moment because of flash floods in
areas that don’t traditionally flood, and having only the clothing on
their back to show for the home they used to have – and the few
things that any given Cuban family can turn over to others. Small
stuff compared to the latest official statistics – still preliminary
- that show over 444,000 houses affected of which over 63,000 are
totally destroyed, over 4,000 tons (preliminary figures) of
warehoused foodstuffs affected nationwide – not including destruction
of crops in the fields and significant losses in poultry rearing,
with hundreds of thousands of animals literally gone with the wind
(!), and damages to electricity, water systems, in short, the entire
infrastructure of the country including schools, clinics, hospitals.
Just imagine an entire country hit by Katrina from one end to the
other and you’ll get an idea of the devastation! Preliminary
estimates by Cuba is that losses are in the range of $5 billion.
And Cuba itself has said, very clearly, that its own reserves won’t
begin to cover the country’s needs for recuperation and
reconstruction, let alone for feeding the population in the short
term. That’s another point, by the way, that should be kept in mind:
inside the country we’re being kept very informed about the
situation. We know what kinds of reserves Cuba has and how they’re
used, as well as the decision-making process for their distribution.
We know the extent of damages, which are updated every time we turn
on the TV and/or radio or read the newspaper. We know about the
assistance that’s already coming into the country and where it’s
going, and about which I won’t say much here as I know there’s lots
of information about this available in the international media. We
know about the “offers” from the US, first of a paltry $100,000 and
then of $5 million, and why Cuba has said a categorical NO as it’s
not aid but “aid with strings”, that is, the US will only give it if
Cuba accepts a US inspection team – something which no other country
or organization in the world makes as a condition to hurricane
assistance. (Plus Cuba has its own proven capacity to make its own
assessments.)
So it seems like small stuff when one talks about neighbourhood
clothing drives and cooking utensils drives and so forth. Except that
it’s NOT small staff, as this kind of mobilization within the country
is what shows, more than anything else, the spirit and determination
of the Cuban people to not only survive, but to eventually surpass
the very difficult blow that the country has received.
For the past week, or rather since the weather has calmed down and
turned once again to hot and clear days and we’re starting to get the
full dimension of the terrible damage that has been done to Cuba by
two back-to-back category 4 hurricanes, I’ve been thinking about
numbers. Here in Cuba. In Haiti. In Jamaica. In the Dominican
Republic. In Galveston.
Numbers. Statistics. Percentages. They can be overwhelming. They can
be so overwhelming that they can sometimes, without our wanting it to
happen, distance us from the very human face of the disaster. It’s a
normal reaction. It’s a self-protective reaction.
But if we distance ourselves from the very human face of calamity, we
also distance ourselves from the very human face of what people are
doing to try to recover from such great losses. Ultimately, we
distance ourselves from ourselves.
We must also always remember that what we are seeing in Cuba or Haiti
or Galveston or anywhere else in the world is directly related to the
damage that is being done to the planetary environment, to climate
change. Just looking at where I live and work, Cuba, there’s no
question but that hurricanes have become more frequent and more
intense in the past decade. People living along the eastern and Gulf
coasts of the United States know this as well. The world’s ecosystem
has been damaged and is screaming out its pain in hurricanes,
tsunamis, earthquakes, inundations, Arctic meltdowns…
It’s large, isn’t it – the problem that faces us. It’s overwhelming
too, the dimension of the task. But it’s also imperative that we see,
and talk about, and mobilize around, the crisis not just here in
Cuba, but the worldwide crisis that is affecting us all.
But now, to return more directly to Cuba: I see the damage. I hear
the numbers. And I try to humanize it, to feel the human face behind
the numbers. Because today it’s Jorge and Anabela and Luisa in
Baracoa and Pinar del Rio and the Isla, but tomorrow it can as easily
be George or Elizabeth or Steven in Toronto or Winnipeg or New York
or San Francisco.
I’d like to tell you a few individual stories.
As mentioned above, over 63,000 houses have been completely
destroyed, meaning at least 200,000 people homeless. One of these
houses belonged to the daughter, Yannara, of a very dear friend on
mine in Baracoa, on the northern coast of Guantanamo province and one
of the first areas affected by Ike. Yannara is 27-years-old and is in
her fourth year of socio-cultural studies. Here husband Giomanis is
29-years old and works in a state structure repairing computers. They
have two small daughters, eight-month-old Ingrid and two-year-old
Isabel (known as Isabelita since she was born).
They lived in a simple house located behind Hotel La Rusa – for those
of you who know Baracoa – about a block and a half from the Malecon
or seawall. After Ike, only the front wall remained of their house,
and all the other houses between them and the Malecon were also
destroyed. The only things Yannara and Giomanis were able to salvage
from the rubble is some clothing, a couple of fans, four chairs (but
the table was lost).
Everything else disappeared: the air conditioner, all kitchen pots
and pans and utensils, all bathroom fixtures, etc. Even the fridge
was carried away by ocean swells, etc. The day after Ike passed, two
government commissions came by, the first to make note of damages and
destruction to houses, and the second to make note of what people
lost from inside their homes. Yannara and her family are now
temporarily crowded into her parent’s home.
Others without immediate family in Baracoa have been taken to
evacuation centres in the area. Nuns from the local Catholic Church
gave out some detergent, tooth brushes and toothpaste to people who
were affected. Yannara says that the agricultural markets are largely
empty and that some people who have small farms on the outskirts of
Baracoa are walking around selling tomatoes and onions and a few
other things. The government is already distributing doors and
windows to people who had lesser damages to their houses, and roofing
sheets have also arrived. Inbetween her tears she kept saying “but
we’ll come out of this, we’re already getting assistance,” This was
the situation as of last Sunday (14th).
Multiply this story by 200,000.
Another friend in Baracoa, 78-year-old Cuca, didn’t suffer damage to
her house. But the five-hectare family farm in Maisi, which in
addition to growing coffee for the state is also a source of fruit
and vegetables and meat for the extended family, was seriously
damaged. All the coffee plants were knocked down as well as many of
the large fruit trees that shaded the coffee plants. She says that
everyone in that area has similar losses. Then she paused for a
moment on the phone, and said “There is the United States it’s
individual, but here at least everyone helps each other. People share
the little bit of kerosene or alcohol that they have for cooking, and
we also share our food so that no one goes hungry while we’re trying
to get back to normal.”
The culture of collectivism. I’ve talked about this before. It’s
another thing that helps Cubans get through tough times like this -
and there’s nothing “little” about it! No one needs to make
“individual claims” to private insurance companies. They’re in it
together. And so is the state.
And a final story I’d like to share with you, this one from beautiful
Vinales in the province of Pinar del Rio. Last weekend I got a call
from my dear friend Jesus. An extraordinary man. He’s a poet, artist
and researcher – as well as a member of the Municipal Historical
Commission – who, motived by his love of nature, has dedicated the
past 40 years of his life to investigating fossils, animal life and
medicinal plants throughout the Vinales valley area.
Alongside his home, located just a stone’s throw (baseball throw?)
from the local Baseball Stadium, he has developed a wonderful,
magical garden where he displays endemic plants and fossils that he’s
collected from all around the area, and where the entry is “guarded”
by a three-metre-high cement baby Tyrannosaurus rex. Locally known as
the Parque Prehistorico de Referencia National, some years ago his
garden was declared a National Reference Site by the Ministry of
Agriculture as a model of a creative way to use a small bit of land
surrounding one’s home. His garden is regularly visited by students,
researchers, UNESCO and European Union representatives and interested
Cubans and international tourists.
Then came first Gustav and then Ike, and Vinales was without
electricity for over two weeks. I tried calling Jesus but couldn’t
get through, as his phone goes on and off with the electrical supply.
Finally, the rains stopped and some small generators were brought in,
giving people at least some electricity during the day. It’s still
not constant as the generators can’t meet the full-time needs of
everyone at the same time. So it rotates.
Jesus lots of zinc roofing sheet on half of his house. His daughter
Luisa who lives next door lose her entire roof. During the cycles,
while Jesus was trying to save the plants, the family was trying to
keep the house in one piece, as there was lots of water entry through
the window shutters and doors. All the large trees – avocado, mango,
other fruit and ornamental – were lost, but some of the smaller
plants managed to survive. The damage inventory commission has
already been by, but it’ll take years for Jesus to get his garden
back to what it was.
Which brings me to another face of the crisis which we must also keep
in mind. In addition to seriously damaging a built infrastructure, a
hurricane also damages dreams, rather, the realized efforts of making
dreams a reality. For me, Jesus’s garden is a perfect example of
this. As Luisa said, if Jesus were going through this alone, he would
be as devastated as his garden. But he’s not. He’s already making
plans for replanting while they wait for the new roof for his
daughter’s house and some construction assistance for his own.
This – the spiritual and psychological impact of the destruction – is
one of the reasons that well-known Cuban singers, troubadours,
musicians, comic groups and actors / actresses have been going around
to the cities and small towns that have suffered the greatest
devastation. When they arrive, the people, who have been informed
beforehand, are already waiting for them. Performances are given to
one and all, with the artists spending a full day in each location
they visit. While these performances don’t solve the serious material
situation in which hundreds of thousands of cubans find themselves,
they provide a kind of spiritual help, and are yet another concrete
reminder to those living in remote areas that they’re not forgotten.
Again, an apparently small thing. And yet resistance and
reconstruction – indeed the Cuban Revolution itself – has been made
by seemingly small things repeated over and over again. Because, at
the end of the day, it’s only with the energies and willingness of
the people themselves that, as Jose Marti said, the impossible
becomes possible!
Abrazos para tod@s,
Susan Hurlich
