The Children of Cuba

By Pamelagrace Beatty

My fiancé, Mike, invited me on a photography tour group trip to Cuba recently.  Since we were traveling with the intent to learn more about Cuba, we were considered to be on an educational trip. I didn’t jump at the chance, as I was a little skeptical about how I, a non-photographer, would do tagging along with Mike, but I was game to give it a try.  I had traveled to Cuba in 2017 and spent two days there, but that proved to be too a narrow window of time to really get a sense of the country and the folks who inhabited it.  So, I was interested in seeing more of Cuba and interacting with the Cuban people. I thought I might even pick up some photography tips.]

I was prepared for how the city of Havana (the Cubans pronounce it “Habana”) looked. During my first trip there, our cruise ship docked near the center of town, and as we walked the streets, I was amazed at how run down so many of the buildings were and the poverty the people lived in. I naively had no idea how devastating the U.S. embargo has been for them.

 This time I was prepared to see that, or so I thought.  Still, it touched my heart at how poorly the people, especially in the big cities like Havana and Trinidad lived.  One of my friends that has never visited Cuba, mentioned to me that the government pays for education and health care, and implied that the Cuban people have it good as a result.

The government also gives out flour and rice and some other staples once a month to every Cuban.  However, the amount given is not enough to sustain a whole family for the entire month. And there are few jobs that pay well enough to help the majority of the population. I could say a lot more about the economics of the country, but I am writing this blog about the children I saw. The little ones touched my heart.  They came from various circumstances, just like here in the states, and they caught my and my camera’s attention.  

One of the first I noticed was a child walking along the street in a square in Havana.  He had short curly hair that had been bleached blond by the sun at the ends. He was simply walking along by himself and looked to be about 8 years old.  He let me take his picture.  I wondered what he was doing and where he was going, just walking by himself.  In my city, we don’t often see small children walking alone.  Fear of the child being kidnapped or accosted is too prevalent. I imagined that his family had enough money to take good care of him. He was decently dressed and his neatly cut, hair said there was money to send him to a barber. He was not afraid of me and let me take his picture, although he didn’t smile.  I was fine with that because I don’t believe everyone has to grin like a loon in every picture. (O.K. I just showed a bias there.  My bad…)

One child caught my attention because she looked to be about 5 years old and she was walking down the street by herself, pushing a pretty little bicycle and drinking what looked like juice out of a baby bottle.  My thoughts were that she is young enough to still be drinking out of a bottle, but old enough to walk by herself, along the sidewalk with her bike. I wondered why she was walking alone. I answered my own question with the realization that the people in Cuba seemed to be very community oriented and perhaps the children were safe there.

The Cubans were mostly friendly toward us as tourists.  Often, we were invited into their homes, frequently because the tour leader, Jim Cline, had established relationships with some of the people over the years and had brought many people to meet them.  But in some cases, the folks were simply open to showing us who they were and how they lived. We were further out in Havana and off the tourist path when I took this photo.

Country Vs. City

After spending several days in Havana, we traveled to Vinales, a beautiful town nestled in the hills. Of course, it was quite tropical and once was the place where many Cubans owned plantations.  They grew lots of tobacco there and still do.  The plantations have been broken up into small farms for the people that lived there after the revolution. According to our tour guide, Vinales was once looked down upon and the people from there were seen as “country bumpkins.”  The beauty of Vinales, however, is that it became a popular tourist area, when tourists were allowed to come there. And the economic status of the people has improved.

Vinales was quite beautiful, with its hills, streams and farms.  The houses the people lived in were better kept and prettier than those we saw in Havana.  The tour guide told us that the people in Vinales were relatively well off compared to the people we had seen in parts of Havana. That seemed to be the case.

We stayed in one of the women’s homes.  She had extra rooms and let them out to travelers. Mike and my room was next door to her teenager who looked like any teenager here in the U.S.  She wore the latest clothes and was warm toward us.  We gave her small bottles of shampoo and other personal care items that are hard to get in Cuba, as a thank you for sharing her space with us.

The neighborhood around the home felt comfortable, and the people were, again, friendly but not overly so. There were many signs of rooms for rent for travelers and many restaurants and bars.  Mojitos were advertised everywhere and became our favorite drink!  I especially became attached to mango mojitos and requested them wherever we went to drink and eat.  They used fresh mangos for the drink. No one asked us for money.

We went to a tobacco farm and met the family there. I was surprised at how limited things were inside the house. I was also impressed with how clean everything was.  In fact, I noticed that even the streets and the homes and other buildings we went into, were frequently very clean.

The farm had a little girl who was curious about us and came into the kitchen as we talked with her grandma and grandpa.  There were several kittens in the kitchen, one of which was curled up on a broom. 

The child let me take her picture with two of the kittens although she wasn’t particularly happy about doing that.  Her grandmom insisted. I was trying to include her in our visit but I’m not sure posing with the kittens was the best idea.

The next city we stayed in was Trinidad. Trinidad was more of a big city, and like Havana, some of the people had very little money.  Those who were better off could send their children to school looking crisp in their school uniforms. We stayed in a privately owned small place that rented out rooms. 

We were within walking distance of the “square” that had shops and restaurants.  We were also within walking distance of the grade school and the poorer neighborhoods.

These two little girls were waiting for time to go into their classroom. They were so neatly dressed and their hair so well done. All of the children going to school were neat, clean and their hair was nicely styled.  It was obvious their parent had taken time to make them look good. One of the girls above, is holding a cell phone and they look like they are sharing a secret.

This little one was sitting on the steps in the poorer part of town.  She was having breakfast.  When her mother saw me taking pictures of the child, she brought out the dolls she had made in hopes we would buy one. I wondered if the girl was of school age yet.  She seemed a bit young.  And I wondered if she also would be all dressed up in her uniform with her hair neatly combed.

As we strolled through the streets taking pictures of the homes and people, that morning we saw many children being walked to school in their uniforms and well-groomed.  I wondered what their lives would be like when they grew up. I wondered if the embargo would be lifted by then and if not, what kind of work would they find to support themselves and their families?

I hope that you can see from my photos, my questions, and my concerns that the children of Cuba most definitely touched my heart.  I may the pictures I shared with you help to convey what my words tried to say and that your heart is touched as well.