Traveling to Cuba is always an uplifting and heart-rending experience. The flight from Miami is barely thirty minutes in the air. As a traveler clears customs and exits the airport, it is as if one is transported decades back in time: horse-drawn carriages are a main mean of transportation and not a tourist prop, and the few cars on the road are large American models from the 1950’s and Russian Lada’s being held together by the mastery of Cuban mechanics and spare parts from around the world.
The Cuban people after Pandemic isolation and prolonged hardship, six decades of one-party rule and neglect, trade, and travel embargos from the United States, and increasing migration hollowing out the country, are tired and almost without hope for a better future.
On March 13, four members of Christ Church in Exeter with its Rector, the Rev. Mark Pendleton, visited their companion parish in Cardenas, Cuba for one week. Christ Church has sent seven delegations to Cuba in nine years, with their largest group in 2019 joined by Bishop Rob. On this trip, we carried down needed medicines and spare parts and filters for various water systems throughout the diocese. In January, the Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) sub-committee of the Diocese made a grant of $5000 to Christ Church to be used to transport and install a U.V. water filtration system for the Church of the Annunciation, in the town of Florida, Camaguey Province.
The Cuba of today suffers through rolling blackouts, food shortages, lack of basic medical care and medicines, widespread dengue fever, and simmering civil unrest. Many young people and professionals are fleeing the island for the U.S., causing a familiar “brain drain” of skills and leaving many children to be raised by grandparents as they await family reunification.
The Cuban Episcopal Church remains a source of inspiration and welcome in an otherwise bleak landscape. Reunited with the Episcopal Church in 2018, the Diocese of Cuba is a witness to the power of Christ to be present in times of struggle and exile, and perseverance and hope. To learn more about those working with Cuba, visit https://www.friendsofeccuba.org/
Shared by the Rev. Mark Pendleton, Christ Church Exeter
The priest Aurelio de la Paz blessing baby clothes donated by church members for a newborn in the parish.
This sign is posted in the church showing some love from NH.