Lessons from Cuba

I had a real eye-opening last night, given to me by a friend's lecture on Cuba. For those of you who might be reading me Internationally, let me explain - Americans are not allowed to travel to Cuba. It's the only country in the world where we are not permitted to go, or in which we cannot spend money. This travel ban has been in place since 1961. The money ban, since the Reagan years. The idea is, if an American goes to Cuba, when they come back they get hassled by the police. They get fined. Some get arrested.

The United States has been blockading Cuba since the Kennedy years. This means we have boats in the water - RIGHT NOW - preventing all imports to Cuba (if there are materials that are allowed, I'd like to hear about what they are... please send comments). So the Cuban people have been driving 1940 Buicks and 1970 Russian-made cars and trucks for all of this time. I don't know how they get spare parts for them. I don't know why our Navy has to make sure they can't...

The people of Cuba have had a rough time of it, because of what HAS TO BE an illegal blockade (we're not at War with Cuba - why are we surrounding them with the Navy?). But they have managed to do remarkable things - with no help from us, and almost no help from anywhere else.

Here are some lessons we might learn from Cuba...

They have ration books for every man, woman, and child on the island. These are supposed to ensure that each person gets at least the basics to eat - every day. Even in the US we don't have anything like that. I'm not saying it's A LOT or always what they might CHOOSE, but it's something. For those of us going hungry in other countries and in the US, we know that something beats the crud out of NOTHING AT ALL.

Their workforce is comprised of 35% women - the women have unions to protect them - and they hold positions at EVERY LEVEL of work, from maid to CEO. Men there GAVE UP THEIR HIGH POSITIONS to women who were qualified in order to make sure this would get started! Imagine doing that HERE!!!

Most of their doctors are women. All areas, even the rural ones, have local doctors and free clinics.

There is a Medical School there - the Latin American Medical School - that educates doctors in Cuba, from all over the world! Their program runs 6 years, and the education is FREE. The deal is, when the doctors graduate and return to their countries, they are supposed to work in areas that are under-served, and they are supposed to promote public health-building and education. So in other words, when they go home, they're supposed to teach sexual health, nutritional health, basic exercise, and make people aware of vaccination information, vitamin information, etc.

Our doctors (in the US) wait for you to go to them. They don't do much for free (there ARE exceptions, God bless them!), and they don't promote and teach public health. I think if more people knew basically how their bodies worked, if they knew about right foods and right portions and right storage and right cooking, if they knew about good exercise and good sleeping habits, if they knew about their sexuality and how to handle all involved with it, like protection from disease, or how to stay healthy while pregnant - they would USE THIS INFORMATION. And our doctors would have less to worry about when they DO see us.

The Cubans can only eat the food they grow themselves. So they have "gone organic" - completely! That makes, say, weeding, labor-intensive! And they DEAL WITH IT! There are few to no pesticides and only natural fertilizers. That has got to mean that their soil is better, their ground water is better and their air is better. And that their foods are healthier. There has GOT to be a lesson in THAT!

You might be thinking, "well, Cuba is a mixed bag at best", because they are supposedly Communist. (They call themselves Socialists.) I am not saying I know everything about how they are getting stuff done. I am not saying that living there is Paradise - probably not. But they have a lot of really great ideas and they are implementing them. We don't have to take EVERY LESSON from them, but we can take what is best. A good idea is a good idea no matter where it comes from, right?

Personally, I think the Cuban people are very brave, very hard-working, and very forward-thinking. Who could not learn from people like that?