Lets do the time hop again!!
Back to the 1960s.
The first two days of Cuba I did not say much, which is very unusual for me.
I was trying my best to take in everything going on around me! I stood at the airport looking at old American and Russian cars driving past as the norm and the one or two modern cars looked very out of place. Yet the people driving the cars looked very modern and trendy.
The buildings are grand and ancient, the streets are swept clean and on every corner there is a little vendor of some sort coffee, ice cream or pizza for under R2.50.
The people walk up and down the streets or sitting on their porch and watch everyone go by.
When we landed in Havana we were all itching to explore the old city which we did until the very last moment that we had. Then it was back to the church, we sat on the roof and watched the festivities continue on to the early hours of the morning
.
This became a theme for our free time in Cuba.
We spent all the time we had on the street... early morning adventure running out of the city, in the heat of the day hunting down air conditioned shops or 1peso coffee and ice cream (R0.60).
We spent time practicing/learning Spanish on the job in local parks or streets.
Our host took us sight seeing and showed us local hangouts.
Evenings were slightly cooler at about 32°C and Cubano music floated out on to the streets or the orchestra would play in the square. It might sound like I am making this up but it is really a beautiful and different world!
I kept on asking our hosts if we were in fact experiencing the real Cuba or seeing things through a romanticised tourist view. The truth is no. We were hearing about the Cuban life from our hosts but the only way to really experience true Cuban life is to live there, earn what they earn (all professions, street sweeper to professor earn about R250-500 per month). We were still closer to the true Cuban culture than most tourists. We had Abulea Bene (Granny Bene) and Bethisdia cooking up traditional Cuban food for us everyday, giving me age old Cuban recipe secrets, a real dream come true.
We shopped in local shops, got some local prices for stuff and could connect with a few Cubans on the street going through their normal day and learn about how the world looks through their eyes and share ours with them.
Our hosts, the GlaDios team became like family from the moment they greeted us with open arms and big smiles at 3am on the street after an extremely uncomfortable 16 hour truck (converted to a bus) ride from Havana to Santiago. I was woken up with someone saying
"What took you guys so long... we have been waiting for you guys for a whole year!"
I was so inspired by the GlaDios team because of their openness towards us. GlaDios is a small organisation of young people which started when their leader, a medical doctor, went to do his year of service in the rural area. There was not one Christian in the community but God opened up doors for him to share about God to his patients, collegues and friends.
People would come to him and ask questions, they were hungry for God and God used him to start a church in this village. This in turn inspired his friends back into Santiago to pull together, help him out, seek God's will for their lives and keep each other accountable. GlaDios is a small organisation making a huge impact.
This is the power of a changed life, living out Jesus one day at a time!
We shared with one another, learnt from each other and had many laughs around far too many bowls of ice cream.
I really treasure the time we had in Cuba and the people we were able to meet.
This blog post and any photos that were taken do not do any justice how it felt being in Cuba. The only way to start understanding the Cuban way is to go there yourself and experience it. See feel, touch, taste, smell and spend as much as you can. It is worth it!
I learned so much from Cuba, Cubans and a completely different world that made me question and broaden my view of the world and how it should or shouldn't look. How we serve the one God from different circumstances and he loves us all the same.