Advertisement
Published: February 19th 2011
Off to School
Leigh with her school uniformBlog Feb 1st
DISCLAIMER: THIS POST WAS SUPPOSED TO GO UP TWO WEEKS AGO. WE WILL SPARE YOU THE LIST OF COMPLICATIONS AND EXCUSES. TO AVOID FURTHER DELAYS, REPORTS ABOUT OUR RECENT TRIP EAST, THE WONDERFUL TIME WITH OUR PASTORS KEN AND NANCY AND THE GIRLS ONGOING CUBAN EDUCATION WILL COME LATER (THOUGH YOU WILL SEE A FEW PICTURES).
School I have been going to school for a few weeks now. I like it a lot. I have a very nice teacher. Everything she says she says to me another time slowly. Now Joy is going too. I am excited to walk with her every morning. The school is one block down the road. Also, every morning all the students get together and chant three songs about our school and Cuba. I have not done that in the United States.
I have not had many problems speaking but I do have trouble translating. Everybody wants to know their names in English but many of their names do not exist in English. They also want to know all the names of their family in English. I am trying my best to do that.
OK – wish me
On the Road Again
...and again...and again.... good luck.
Love,
Leigh
PS I miss you all very much!
A Trip Across the Country Not many people can say that they have traveled from Havana to Holguin and back in four days while visiting eleven different churches on the way. Truthfully, I don’t recommend it unless you are with the right kind of people, which I was.
There was a group from the Alliance of Baptists that had asked mom to translate for them. The group consisted of Paula, one of the leaders of the Alliance, Mary, her co-worker, and Mary’s exchange student, Mille, from Denmark. Dr. Baltimore, the president of the Progressive National Baptist Church and Herb, from Providence Baptist in Hendersonville, NC were there looking for sister churches. Wayne was another of the translators. I decided to tag along.
I must admit that one of the reasons that I went was to try to relive my first trip to Cuba as much as possible. I knew the trips would be similar. Later Mom told me that this trip was harder than the first one. It’s a good thing I’m not six, like I was the first time. Another
reason was to see even more of Cuba.
The first day we drove from Matanzas to Ranchelo, which is right outside of Santa Clara. Mom and I knew the pastor’s daughter because once every two months she takes a week class at the seminary. We got there early evening. The church was in the pastor’s house and for some reason we could not worship in that house, so we met in another church. We had a yummy Cuban meal, rice and beans, yucca, salad etc. The service started at 8:30, late for everybody on the trip except the Cubans.
We arrived to the guest house we were staying at about midnight. As soon as I saw the inside I knew that it was the same house Mom and I had stayed in three years ago, the last time we had been here. The man still had his parrot out in the back patio. It is a beautiful house! We also found out that Che, one of the Cuban heroes, had slept there after the revolution when someone different had owned the house. We stayed with Mary and Mille. They actually slept in “Che’s” room.
We had breakfast
Che Memorial
Joy and VT at the Che Memorial in Santa Clara the next morning with the Parrot, who’d switch back and forth between saying good words and bad words. We were back on the road, but this time we had to go all the way to Holguin. For those of you who don’t know, from Havana to Holguin is a 10-12 hour drive, depending on what kind of transportation you have. Fortunately we were with Nestor, therefor in good hands.
We made it to Holguin and visited another church there that night. This Church was in the pastor’s back yard. They had recently put up a roof and an office for the pastor. The service didn’t last as long as the one the night before. Afterwards, the pastor took us to a see a view of Holguin at night. Mom and I had been up there during our last trip, but during the day. Seeing all the lights reminded me of flying into a city at night.
This time we got to our hotel at 11:00. Better than the night before, but we were still exhausted. It was the first time I had been in a Cuban hotel since I was six. It was really nice, but I didn’t
Thank God
for books on tape find that out until the next morning. That night was one of those “too tired to think” kind of nights. For example I saw that there was an orange peel in of the ash trays near where we checked in. I asked my mom if the hotel workers had put there on purpose to make the hotel smell good or some guest had peeled their orange there. She laughed and said that either was possible, but the later was more likely.
We slept well that night and were on the road again the next morning. We had another service to attend in Las Tunas at 10:00 a.m. We had lunch there and then they wanted to show us a little mission church out in the country. We only met the pastor of the mission church. The church was beautiful. There were benches and a concrete slab where the pulpit went. It was outside under the trees. It was really neat. Mom asked what they did when it rained because there was no roof. The pastor just replied that it was difficult.
We ended up leaving at 4:00. That was really really really late. We needed to visit three
Oscar the Salad Man
Neighbor Oscar in the garden beside our house that provides both beauty and yummy salads. other churches before we made it to our hotel in Sancti Spiritus. The first church was about an hour to an hour and a half away. We got there about two hours later for a little visit with the church in La Vallita. We got to the church in Corojo a few hours later. It turns out they had been waiting for a few hours. One of the interesting things was that all of the people in this church were woman or little girls.
We were not there for a service, just a visit. We sang a song and learned a little about each other and then got back on the road to go to Colorado. No, we did not plan to go to Colorado the state. That would have been really hard. There is a small town in Cuba also called Colorado. They had dinner prepared for us. I think that was the latest I have eaten dinner, 10:30. We were all really tired and we were all really punchy.
Sancti Spiritus was still another 5 hours away, or something crazy like that. We decided to stop in Ciego de Avila, which was much closer. I feel
asleep on the way and when I woke up it was 1:00. We were just arriving. I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. We were headed home the next day!
Yes, we headed home the next day. It had been a long trip. Truthfully, I don’t recommend it unless you are with the right kind of people, which I was.
Joy
The language Certainly one of our goals for this year was further exposure to the Spanish language. The language still feels at time like wrestling a demon in the night, yet there are also days when it flows with minimal effort. An unexpected delight is to be able to understand some of what is being said around us on the street, the greetings between friends, exchanges at the market, parent and children talking, gossip and chit-chat as we pass groups sitting in doorways or as I sit crocheting with the ladies at the seminary.
One old man on the street greeted another with open arms: “Brother, I thought you were dead, how’s it going?”
People talk about the cost and availability of goods as shortages of certain products from
First Baptist Matanzas
Ken, Nancy, Paco, and Orestes serving communion at First Baptist Matanzas powdered milk to salt to dish soap are still part of Cuban life.
People talk about getting around. “Catching the bottle” is the phrase for hitch-hiking and is a major part of public transportation. Highways are lined with people, suitcase at foot, waving a hand to the passing drivers hoping to catch a lift. Many pastors and seminary students rely on “the bottle” to get to trainings, seminars or their weekend churches and/or missions. At the Gender conference I attended in the fall, I heard attendees talking about leaving 2 days early and having 6 stops along the way to finally arrive to Havana.
Mark and I have recently found a very kind and capable teacher to help us continue our Spanish studies. Joy is working about 3 hours a week with a different private tutor and just started attending school here as a 6th grader. While challenging on many levels, she says she wants to hang in with it. Leigh, also in school, is in a class where it’s a bit easier to be the foreigner. She continues to make friends with everyone that passes through the seminary gates. Lucy (as she is known here) never appears
Dinner at Angelita's
Dinner at Angelita's house, the pastor of our sister church in Camaguey to be at a loss for words in either language.
The seminary
We continue to feel blessed to call the beautiful gardens of the seminary home. There are only 20 or so residential students here at present, yet there are a number of seminars that are held for distance learners. These include persons completing a range of theological degrees as well as various trainings for those working with person with disabilities. Occasional groups of foreigners (Baptists, Presbyterian, Episcopal, etc) come through for short stays. In addition, groups such as the Latin American Council of churches, the Cuban Presbyterian congress and other large congregational gatherings tend to meet at the Seminary. It is an interesting place to see the flow of people that come and go. It is fun for the girls to meet other English speaking travelers and hear about news from the North. What we cherish more than anything is the growing friendships that are taking root.
Education in Cuba
Less than one block from our house is the neighborhood elementary school. We can hear the children playing and the bell when it rings. We have enjoyed waving to the kids as they come and
go from school. Until recently, we were enjoying a rhythm of home school and some Spanish help from some of the seminary students however, much of our days were in English and we started to dream about Leigh and Joy attending this neighborhood school to make friends and better their Spanish. We asked and then we waited for what seemed like forever (in Leigh’s opinion) for a response. Leigh is now in her 3rd week of school. Joy started and then stopped because of the timing of testing. She just started back. We have found the teachers and students welcoming to us. The system is no doubt quite different yet Leigh is learning cursive and math and much, of course, about the Spanish language. She now has a red uniform, little white shirt and blue handkerchief around her neck. Joy is opting out of uniform fashion at the moment. Stay tuned as that may change.
A final note
Writing something for this blog is getting harder. I feel a bit like my brain has been twisted around in a blender a few times and what is left is hard to describe. I am enjoying the way those things
Camaguey
The new boulevard in Camaguey that are far different from things in the US now seem normal. I think a year away from work will probably be one of the best professional decisions I have ever made. I have learned to like cooking again. I believe that the washing machine that most US households have is one of the most amazing inventions. I feel that free time is really important and something I have had too little of in my adult life.
Each day I hear stories of people’s lives, hopes, dreams: past, present and future. Each day I understand more of what is being said and one day hope to figure out how to share what we are learning about the Cubans we know.
For now I say thank you to those of you who are supporting us though contribution, notes and/or prayers. I do hope that our presence here is part of the bridge building process that one day our governments may be able to walk upon.
Kiran
Roadrunners Lila, Paco’s wife, now refers to the prison chaplaincy team as the “roadrunners”. We can’t argue with her. In the last few weeks we have done 3 day trainings
Educating Our Children
An example of the many messages from the Cuban government on billboards and buildings: "It is essential to educate our children from birth onward, so that they grow up healthy, active, and happy." in Santiago de Cuba (all the way at the other end of the island), Colon and in Santa Clara. The “off” days have included a trip to La Havana to pick up some hard to get car parts for “El Burrito” (Paco’s old Russian car) for she is an essential member of the team. Tomorrow, we all (including the family and two of our Circle of Mercy pastors, Ken and Nancy Sehested) head to Holguin and Camagüey for round two of the trainings. We will be gone for the next 6 days.
While a lot, I’m still very much enjoying the experience. Perhaps more important than the content of the workshops, we are bringing people together who don’t normally get together. As is true in the US, denominational lines can be pretty rigid here. The first day of the trainings usually carry a fair amount of suspicion and uncertainty, but by the end, the air is filled with vigorous singing and gratitude for the new connections. Yet another example for me of how the lens of prison ministry can often reveal the mental prisons that limit our own vision and relationships.
My course at the seminary is coming
Prison Chaplaincy Workshop
Making a web at the prison chaplaincy workshop in Holguin to an end. While the challenge has taught me a lot, it will be a huge relief to no longer have that weekly task before me. From what I can tell, a number of the students have appreciated the material and the participatory approach to the class. That said, I’m sure they are looking forward to the break from my inadequate Spanish and small group exercises.
Like Kiran, I too find it harder and harder to “report” and view this experience as an outsider. Of course, on some level, we will always be outsiders. However, it is a wonderful sign that we are falling deeper into the way and rhythm of life here. It does feel more and more like home, especially as our friendships and sense of community deepen. When my class ends and the “roadrunners” shift to a brisk walk (Paco keeps telling me this will happen), we hope that we will have more time to do some traveling around the island visiting various friends and churches with whom we have formed connections. Ken and Nancy brought us a flip camera (thanks Michael!). We are thinking this will be a great way to capture and share some
Sorting Rice
The communal activity of sorting rice of this experience with you all when we return, less than 5 months away.
Until then, know that we think of you often, give thanks for you daily and still very much look forward to the day when hugs, not just words, can be shared.
Mark
Advertisement
Tot: 0.119s; Tpl: 0.023s; cc: 9; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0548s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Sue Williams
non-member comment
greetings and gratitude
Dear Leigh, Joy, Kiran, and Mark, it is such a welcome experience to read your letters. Thanks so much for sharing your insights and concerns with us. I appreciate your honesty in identifying your feelings and can understand that your lives have become intertwined with those with whom you live and share everyday. Quite an opportunity and you're giving it to us as well. We have a very active Jan. and Feb. in Atlanta. The weather has pretty much precluded time at Cracrow, and we have certainly filled the time here with activities that engage us fully. In March we'll start a heavier travel time - Duke and Durham, twice, New York, and London the first week of May. We do offer prayers for you. Happy Birthday, Kiran! Hugs from Sue