Cuba by Matthew Beard

The first thought that comes to mind when I think of our trip to Cuba is the Cuban people. Overall everyone was friendly and willing to share their country with us. Cuba is a Socialist State, so everyone gets medical care and they also receive a small amount of money per month from the government. There is also a system that is similar to food stamps where people can go to a specific store (similar to a market) and get rice, beans and other small goods.

Here’s a picture of the Market.

While in Cuba several of us met a couple named Rusland and Yuslemi. We quickly became friends and they showed us around old Havanna and took us to some cool restaurants for lunch and dinner. I was able to ask them about their day to day living routines.  Both Rusland and Yuslemi work in the food services industry and have been for over 12 years. Rusland normally goes into work at 8:30 in the morning and gets off at about 10 or 11 at night. Yuslemi typically goes in to work at 11 in the morning and finishes her work day at about 11 at night. They both work every other day with no break in the cycle. When I asked if they get sick days they said that they do but that they never use a sick day because if they take over 2 or 3 days off, the employer will fire them and find someone else.  They said they do get vacation days but it’s not paid and they said they can’t afford to miss a day without pay. One day when we linked up with Rusland and Yuslemi we were able to meet their kids.

One cool experience I had in Cuba was that I was able to play a little ball with some of the local kids. I had seen kids playing ball or a form of baseball almost everywhere. Even in the street they will play with a piece of rebar and a bottle cap. So we were walking along a street and some kids were playing and I asked them if I could take a couple of swings and they said yes.  I had to be careful because they were playing in a median in the street and if I hit one too hard it would go into the harbor and they would lose their only ball. It was fun, I hit a grounder and we gave out pins and candy to the kids. It was a good time.

-Matthew Beard