January 25 - Self Directed Day 2

On Wednesday, January 25, the students had a second full day for self-directed learning and exploring.  Two students share how this day provided an opportunity to reflect on their overall experience in, and observations of, Havana.

This experience has been one I have never experienced before, both on individual and group planned travel.  Today is one of our “free days” and we can choose to work on our assignments and/or experience Cuba how we want to experience it.  

Today I have chosen to reflect on the privilege we have back home that we constantly take for granted.    

This is the first trip where I have never entered a grocery store. This may be common for some people, but one of my favorite experiences is going into a store to see what they have and how people consume.  I am angry that I had to skip this part of my experience, but may not in the way you may be thinking.   

Since Trump put Cuba back on the terrorism list and the wake of Covid-19, there has been lots of shortages of supplies in Cuba.  This means that there are still rations on necessities, because the resources are scarce.  I did not feel like it was appropriate for me to wait in line to enter a store  to purchase something when the Cuban people need it more.  Even just to browse and not purchase.  It was no place for me to utilize my privilege and take up space/time from others.   As a country that depends on importation, there was not much available because not much is being brought in.  

In the US, we have the ability to go to a store and pick up some ibuprofen when we want it, but we also have the privilege of ordering it directly to our houses or paying someone else to deliver to us (DoorDash, Amazon, etc) where we do not even need to leave our homes. That reality is not true here.  There is not enough of this “basic” medication that the hospitals don’t even have enough to distribute to those who need it.  Even if you have the money to buy it, it’s not here.  For some who view eating rice and beans everyday is not a way to live, this is the only way to live for some as other food is hard to come by.  

The narrative around Cuba and its people, for me, has always come from a dominating one-sided view with US politics at the forefront.  I knew that my understanding and views were incorrect, but I did not realize the extent of the power of the US and how it consistently asserts its dominance over such a small country 90 miles off its coast.  This post is not bashing the US and its people, it’s about looking at things through a different lens and hoping that I can remember these moments in my everyday life when I return home.  

I hope that this post brings to light the information that is given to us in this “free country” (USA) and what is actually kept from us.  As we are constantly battling with one another over politics, it is important for us to take a look at the information presented in front of us and how much information we are missing.  Everyone in the US is privileged in some way, but our privileges are different.  How we use our privilege to be allies for those who do not have our privilege is what matters.   Charity is not the answer and I am not here to “fix” Cuba or any other place for that matter.  My place is to find what I can do to help at home. 

I feel confident that every single leader on this trip will come back with lots of dissonance about lots of things.  I hope this dissonance turns into passion and true change for things we have ability to change in our own communities.   

“A revolution is not a bed of roses.  A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past” -Fidel Castro