Talking About the Weather

 We experienced quite a "climate change" yesterday, as we arrived back to some cold and damp North Carolina mountains, after 3 weeks of Caribbean t-shirt and shorts weather. It didn't take long for me to get the fire roaring in the wood stove!

We are grateful for this opportunity to spend three weeks in Cuba's eastern provinces of Las Tunas, Holguín, and Bayamo, where we visited seven of the Fraternity churches. We were blessed to be able to hang out with groups from First Baptist Asheville and First Baptist Sylva who were there to strengthen ties with their respective partner churches. 

There is definitely a different kind of "climate change" evident in Cuba these days. The skies are not "fair", to borrow another meteorological term. A growing number of people, especially young people, leaving the island for the greener pastures of south Florida or Texas is taking its toll. Every church is affected by the exodus of leaders and active members. The entire society is affected by the growing shortages of medical personnel. A young person working in physical therapy said that his practice once had 20 workers, and now he is left with only 2 colleagues, meaning long hours and little time off. Another friend, a radiologist, said that in his provincial hospital his office has seen a similar reduction, from 20 colleagues down to 5. 

At risk of overusing the weather metaphor, I will say that this exodus is leaving the island in a major tropical depression. Many people I talked with feel sad, angry, and anxious about what the future holds. Many feel a sense of abandonment. While those who leave usually do so with the best intentions to someday reunite with family, there are too many stories of people who left and once acclimated to the new world, forgot or cut ties with loved ones back home. 

On a hopeful note, I did see evidence of a "microclimate" at work among the young people we encountered in the churches we visited. We encountered quite a few late teens and twenty-somethings defying all odds, maintaining a commitment to stay and invest their lives in serving their people. Here are just a few names of the inspiring young people who are shining lights in the midst of the dark times: Lorena, Miriam, Jesús, Lachi, José, Elizabeth, Diamelys, Rebekah... They and many others are preparing for careers as doctors, nurses, teachers, ministers, athletes. 

I had many conversations with these young people. I was intrigued because they defy the stereotype in our country that describes all Cubans, especially all young Cubans, as desperate to leave their country. The dominant narrative says there is no horizon for them, that they are captives yearning to be liberated. The young people I talked with showed no signs of any of that. I asked each one a simple question: with things so hard here, with daily life so challenging, what is it that you like most about Cuba, about being Cuban? What keeps you here? The answers were fascinating. "I love the people and want to serve them." "I love the fact that there are no obstacles here to pursuing any field of study or career you want, it doesn't matter your race or class or background." "I love the culture." "I love the values that we are taught from the time we are small—values like solidarity and community. I couldn't imagine living in an individualistic culture." And finally, I heard this answer that turns our prevailing narrative on its head: "I love the freedom our country offers." 

There's an old adage that says everybody talks about the weather, but nobody can do anything about it. Well, in the metaphorical sense, I think these young people are defying that aphorism. They are working to change the climate, to bring hope to a desperate situation. And for those of us who live in different atmospheric conditions, breathing the air of abundance, I am convinced that this climate change in Cuba is indeed human-made, and that there is something we could do about it. Hopefully we can generate the political will to make the changes that would give our neighbors some breathing room, to give those young people who are such an inspiration some room from respiration.