The Saints

March 25

One of the things that makes me feel separated from my home in Canada is the way life keeps going. This past week David was in the hospital with influenza. Of course he is well taken care of at Sick Kids Hospital and he has the most amazing Dad (I wouldn’t be able to be in Cuba if this were not the case!). My own parents and a loving community of friends are also hugely helpful when David gets sick. But I feel far away and I miss him.

A view of the Matanzas Bay early one morning,
 taken by Leonel.

The other thing that has happened in this time is that a number of people have died – all saints of the community in one way or another...this is my tribute to them!

Bob Davies – Activist and Educator
I know him best as a member of what we playfully called the Echo men’s auxiliary. He faithfully played the piano at many of our fundraisers – for sing-alongs. We have come to greatly appreciate a volume of Canadian folk songs he edited in the 70s called Singing About Us. Among our favourites, a song about you aboriginal boy, Charlie Wenjack who tried to walk 600 miles home from a residential school in the 60s and never made it. Bob is well known as the founder of This Magazine. He always had a twinkle in his eye and always appreciated Echo’s performances. I don’t think he ever missed one – each one “was the best yet”. Bob died while on vacation with his wife in Cuba.

Wayne – Bon Vivant and Friend
Wayne hung around at Holy Trinity a lot – sometimes he had housing and sometimes he didn’t. Crediting HT for his sobriety Wayne was always on to some scheme or other that was going to make the world a better place. He was a connecter of people. Every time I saw him, he wanted me to meet a whole variety of other people he knew with whom I thought I could collaborate somehow. When David was diagnosed with Leukemia, Wayne was really moved. One of the last projects he had in mind was to get some wool to make hats for kids with cancer. He had an angle on some cheap wool and said he had a whole group of women lined up to do it. Wayne could swear a blue streak and talk your ear off. But he had a great big heart.

Bruce Kirkpatrick Hill - Musical Colleague
What a surprise for a second Canadian I know to die here in Cuba. This time, his death was not a surprise -- rather the end of a long illness. A vacation to rest, near the end of his life. Bruce was one of the Tononto’s finest organists. May he rest in peace.

Maestro Castellanos – Professor, Dancer, and Lover of the Church
Known simply as the Maestro, he died after a two month illness at the age of 97 here in Matanzas. Beloved teacher, Emma and I were able to meet him at the beginning of our stay. Fluent in French and English (and maybe German and other languages) he was famous at the seminary for his love of international folk dancing which he taught weekly classes even at the end of last year. He said “Dance is the Queen of the Arts”. He lived a life dedicated to the church. I was particularly honoured to be able to play at his funeral service here at the seminary to a packed chapel.

Alice Heap – Lover of Justice, Lover of Life
On the day of Bob Davies’ funeral at Holy Trinity (and the same week Maestro Castellanos died), I got a message with the news of Alice’s death. It is hard to sum up Alice succinctly – she did so many things. Her passion for open, inclusive justice seeking community expressed itself in her life long work for the things she cared about – the NDP, the Anglican church (especially Holy Trinity), the SCM, her family, and her large community of friends. She always seemed to know who needed what and who could help satisfy a need in the community. I have known Alice my whole life. What a gathering in heaven! I imagine that Maestro Castellanos just might be teaching Alice and the others how to dance. He had imagined, before his death, what the God would say when he arrived: "Could you teach the angels to dance the conga?" His response: "I know what to do with the feet and hands, but what do I do with wings?" Bruce could play “How Great Thou Art” or any other great hymn to the delight of all the others who would belt it out. And then, Bob would sit down at the piano, with Wayne tapping his foot, as he hammered out, one more time, “Bread and Roses”. As we go marching, marching in the beauty of the day, the rising of the women means the rising of us all. No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposes, but a sharing of life’s glories, bread and roses, bread and roses!” Art and beauty and justice – these were the values that these saints had in common. They must be organizing quite a party!!

The time of visits

March 25

(Becca's brother Mike (the tall one) and family with friends Roman and Katrina and family)

Over the past couple of weeks, we have had some wonderful family visits. Both my parents (aka Nana and Papa) and my brother, Mike and his family (with Lisa and nephews Jake and Kyle as well as grandma Karen) have come visit Cuba and to see us. They stayed in Varadero which allowed us to see how the other side lives by checking into their respective hotels for a night. We loved the beach and loved seeing our family! The hotels were a bit of a disjunct, though. It is hard to reconcile the amplitude of the food and resources with what we see and experience, to some extent, in daily life. Just as a small example, beef was forbidden for Cubans until recently. It is now possible to buy beef in the stores but it is prohibitively expensive. Cows are used for milk for children. But there is beef in abundance at the hotels. The excess seems so unnecessary to us, knowing what we know about how little Cubans have for their daily needs. What a metaphor for the problems of the world!

It is not possible to enter the hotel grounds without wrist bands. When Emma and I tried to do it to see Nana and Papa’s room, we were (very politely) stopped. Our Saturday afternoon at the beach was made all the more pleasurable by sharing it with three Cuban seminarians and a professor. At the end of the day the guards questioned our use of the deck chairs. We explained that there were four paying guests (we had four chairs) and that we were visiting our friends. He let it go, but this kind of socializing (between paying guests and others) is still strongly discouraged. Emma said she felt like it was discrimination like there used to be in the USA against African Americans. I said it wasn’t quite the same...she said, “Yes it is, Mom.”

Those who gathered at the Lenten Retreat at SET

Nana and Papa were able to be with us at the seminary for a couple of days and Mike, Lisa, Jake and Kyle and Karen (Lisa’s mum) for a day. We were so excited to have them here - I couldn’t stop talking. Emma kept rolling her eyes at me! The seminarians were warm and welcoming to them all. Papa was able to offer a reflection at a Lenten retreat while he was here and Nana got to meet with the president of the Cuban SCM (Student Christian Movement) – she has spent most of her adult life working for the SCM in Canada and it’s mother organization the World Student Christian Federation.

We also had a visit from Cuban-Canadian friend Leonel
and his girlfriend Tina. Here we are on our balcony with Tina.

When Mike and family came to visit, everybody saw in Kyle a striking resemblance to David. We had lunch in the comedor (dinning room), and walked around town. A highlight was the ice cream we stopped to get. Between us we had five dishes of ice cream, some with several scoops for about $1.50!

Mike and Lisa’s hotel was completely isolated at the far end of the Varadero peninsula. We enjoyed being there but felt a bit stuck. It is so big that you do feel you’re in your own little village but it is such a gated community. Mike and Lisa traveled with friends Roumen and Katrina and their kids – we enjoyed being with them as well.

Friends Sarah Shepherd and David Gillman are in Cuba now traveling on their own and stopping by for visits with us. Emma has been able to hang out with them some (I am hunkering down with my books trying to finish end of term stuff) and we’ve enjoyed some nice meals together.

The garden at SET which feeds seminarians as well as the community.

These visits are wonderful. It is also challenging to figure out where we belong. We are here living with our Cuban friends in this safe and relatively privileged community (we eat meals in common and have resources that other Cubans might not have, including decent accommodation), but still life is simple and we depend on each other for help in daily matters. When we visit the fancy hotels or travel around with our friends we become more obvious tourists. We have the financial capacity to enter that other world (albiet briefly). It is a reminder of our relative wealth and it feels uncomfortable. It challenges all our assumptions about what is important in life and how we chose to invest our time and money.

I find it really hard to navigate between the worlds. For now, I have chosen to live for a short time in this Cuban community. While I’m here I can help a little and so I do in whatever way I can (by buying extra food, sharing what we have, requesting special items from home – Alan has received and sent several lists of stuff with each visitor). The sorting out will be ongoing process.

Emma's in School

Blog entry five, as reported on March 12, 2012


Emma with her teacher and friend Daniela

These past couple of weeks, we have managed to get some kind of program together for Emma’s school. Due to bureaucracy (and likely the short length of our stay), it just wasn’t possible for Emma to go to the local middle school. Our Spanish teacher is actually a French professor so he will teach her both languages. Two afternoons a week, a local teacher will work with her. She has also been invited to attend classes informally at the local primary school which she has been doing two days a week. She has also been hanging out with one of the seminary students learning to crochet. Her days are now not only full and happy but also directed...and I am able to focus better on my studies. I’m still working hard to catch up – I’m not quite there, but getting closer!


Friends Daniela (9) and Elias (12) in their school uniforms

Knox College Visitors

A visitor overlooks the gardens at the seminary.

Blog entry # 4, as reported on March 11, 2012.

Reading week in Toronto means the annual trip of the Knox College students (from the University of Toronto, Toronto School of Theology – my school, though not my college – I’m at Emmanuel) to the Seminary. At the Seminary this year that also meant that there was a theological conference on the theme of discernment. Since I was behind in my own work because of the time at the hospital in Havana, I was able to participate only a little in the conference, but enjoyed what I did.

The Knox students organized a Canadian night which consisted in sharing a lot of party food and a bonfire over which we roasted marshmallows. The following night we had a Cuban night which was kicked off by a duet with me, a Canadian, on the piano, and Yanike, a long-term Jamaican student at the seminary, singing a Cuban love-song. The evening ended with a live band (“Agua Viva”) and dancing. Emma tagged along with the group to Cuatro Esquinas, an ecological project of the Anglican Church here and also to Varadero. We both enjoyed getting to know the Knox students.

There are many groups that visit the Seminary, but the Knox students, under the leadership of Dorcas Gordon, President of Knox College, really work at integrating with the Seminary students, and a more authentic interchange is therefore possible. The Cuban students really appreciate the efforts of their Canadian counterparts to reach across the cultures. We stayed put that weekend in Matanzas.

Other Highlights of the Week

– Wednesday morning attendance at a celebration for Loreley Rebalde, a famous local children’s writer and storyteller as part of the International Festival of Books.

– Dinner at a Paladar with Elisa, a Cuban-American visiting English teacher at the Seminary.

We (the three of us) ate for about 10 dollars, a huge amount of money for a Cuban.

– Saturday afternoon we went to a concert at Montserrat of the children’s choral project called Cantemos directed by Méndez (my conducting teacher) and conducted by members of his choir. The final youth choir aged 15–25 was amazing.

– Saturday night we attended a fantastic modern Dance performance by Danza Espiral, choreographed by the wife of Méndez, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of a Cuban poet.

– Sunday morning, we went to the Baptist Church and heard a great sermon about the meaning of Lent - basic theme - the doubt, temptation, and despair of Lent can hit us anytime.

Lee Cormie and Emma

The week after this I attended Lee Cormie’s class on Liberation theology, with the other masters students. There were six of us and I so appreciated being able to be part of the class (as an auditor and supplement to my other work). We really wrestled with the world’s big troubling themes: massive poverty, inequality on all fronts, the tension between unity and plurality (diversity), and impending ecological disaster – and how to make theological sense of them all.

I can see some good things about the way Cubans live – shared transportation, careful use of resources (at least in non-tourist areas), looking out for each other (it is necessary), making do with much less. But (and it is a big but!) this is not a life they have chosen. More than that, the challenges of life are enormous. Human potential is impeded and sometimes even thwarted, due to hard circumstances or by someone else’s ambition or mis-placed political motivation. Who am I to judge a way of life positive from my position of relative wealth and privilege as a white Canadian.  Lots for me think about.

How can I really know what life is like here? I catch a better glimpse than most visitors perhaps and I am able to enjoy real friendships. But, still I have enough money to make totally different decisions and the reality is that I will go back home.

David and Alan’s Visit

Our long awaited couple of days at Varadero

We were so happy to see Alan and David who arrived February 5th for two weeks. After settling them in our apartment, we went up the hill to Montserrat, a look-out point and former Catalonian chapel and had dinner at a government-run restaurant. We rushed back for a concert by the Chamber Choir which was fabulous as usual, even though a couple of singers were missing due to seasonal flu. The next two or three days I went ahead with my studies while Emma showed Alan and David around Matanzas and the seminary. David and Emma spent a lot of time playing with Daniela and Elias, David constantly wanting to go over to “that girl’s” house.

David gets kissed by his sister in the hospital, five days later.

Wednesday Evening we went looking for a girls’ choir rehearsal, found the school of the arts, but the rehearsal was not happening so we went out for dinner at the fancy hotel and started to get anxious about David’s fatigue and slightly warm skin. A short time later his fever grew and we knew that we had to make some serious decisions, and to organize a trip to the Pediatric Children’s Hospital in Havana. The administrator for the Seminary, Farfan, called a driver and we headed off into the night (leaving Emma and Alan at the Seminary). Sometime after midnight David and I arrived to the International Ward in the Hospital. I had taken the precaution of connecting with a pediatric oncologist before David’s trip, even though everybody thought that he was well enough to travel, we knew that this might well happen; and any fever requires a visit to the hospital. When we arrived they were expecting us, took a blood test to discover that there was high sedimentation in his blood, an indicator of a pretty serious infection. We were then told that he had to be admitted, even though his other blood counts were acceptable. See http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/esr/tab/test

After the hospital stay, we visited Doctora Raquel to say thank you.
Here we are with her son and grand-daughter.

The medical attention was very good throughout. They accessed his port, gave him antibiotics, and I had to crush half an adult tylenol, put it in a syringe, mix it with water, and give it to him. At about 3:30 or 4 a.m., after a finger poke, blood from his arm, and the port access, we were shown to our room. On the way I almost fainted and had to be revived by the nurse who had accessed David’s port. David sweated through the day, and overcame his infection within 24 hours, but they were not willing to consider letting him leave earlier than the following Monday because the sediment in his blood had been so high. So we settled into our routine. The resources are much scarcer in Cuba, so we had running water only half the day, no hot water (they brought a bucket of hot water every morning for bathing), no cutlery (we shared one spoon), the pillows were old and stained, and the beds also were old. They don’t check blood pressure and I checked his temp. whenever requested. For us the worst part of the scarcity meant that David’s line into his port was a little short and he pulled it out in the middle of the second night (he turned over in his sleep and the rickety IV stand fell over). Luckily I had the sense to clip the line as his blood started to spill onto the floor in the room. I went hunting for the nurse (no call bell), and he got a new line.

David enjoying rice pudding at the Presbyterian church,
after our hospital stay. He loved the rice pudding at the hospital.

On the plus side, the food was home-made and David really liked it (“It’s better than in Canada”). The lack of technology meant that we were also able to sleep well during the night, because we were mostly uninterrupted. Moraima from the Seminary visited us almost every day, and brought us coffee, cola (essential for me to stay awake, and a secret hospital treat for David) and ice cream. When I got sleepy from reading to him all day he suggested that I have another coke. We were also visited by our friend Leonel and his mother Lourdes as well as the dean of the Anglican cathedral, and various other people who helped us get cash, crayons, or whatever from Alan in Matanzas. Thanks to Lourdes we had plates, forks, and cups, as well as cheese and crackers. This was a lifesaver, since the adult meals were 26 pesos (= $27 CDN) a day, and was too much food, so I ended up eating David’s leftovers, which worked out well. David was in isolation because of his susceptibilities. On Monday we received the bad news that David had to stay longer because his neutrophils (immune system indicator) were so low they were unreadable; but they were able to take his line out and we settled in for more reading, cuddling, drawing, practising numbers and letters and having adventures on the High Seas with pirates and explorers. Alan and Emma came on Monday so I was able to leave the hospital for the first time and went to get ice cream, pizza, bread, pop, and other supplies. Finally, on Wednesday after receiving a white cell booster called leucocin, his counts were good enough that we could go home. David called it “home,” but not “home” home, like Canada. The Seminary.

Emma at the sea with her Dad.

Though the conditions were nowhere near those in Canada in terms of resources, the protocol that we followed and the care we received was similar to what would have been done in Canada and our doctor at home was more than happy with what they had done. Indeed, she had been in frequent touch with us throughout by cell phone texts and emails. We are extremely grateful to the doctors and nurses, especially Doctora Raquel. We returned to the Seminary where everyone was relieved to see David (and me), though they were respectfully careful not to get too close. We spent Friday and Saturday at the beach in Varadero, staying at the lovely guest house of the Presbyterian Church where we met Canadian friends, Lee Cormie and Janet Conway. David gloried in the beach! (An understatement). He didn’t want to leave the beach to go “home,” by which he meant the beach house, not “home” home, which was, by this time the seminary, and not “home” home home, in Toronto.

It was a most unusual family visit, but in the end David and I had lots of time together as did Alan and Emma, but that’s another story.