My Spring Break 2008: Cuba Teachers' Education Tour
		Dr Gail Thomas, Professor of Sociology Soka University of America (SUA), Aliso Viejo, California I have been more than curious about Cuba for some time and wanting to visit our close neighbor. The opportunity arose recently through a Cuba Teacher Education Program in Vancouver. I pursued it and joined five new friends in Havana March 15-22nd during our Spring Break. Together in Havana and in the nearby countryside of Pinar Del Río, we experienced an intense week of education about this archipelago with its approximately 11.2 million people of different mixtures. The colorful people and rhythmical music of the Island were a constant sight and ear full. We visited schools, museums, and the University of Havana. We met school teachers, saw students and visited the striking home of Cuba's noted artist, José Antonio Rodriguez Fuster. Over lunch with us in his home, he shared his passion for decorating some of his neighbors' homes at no cost. WE BENEFITED from lectures by a prominent Professor of History and Law, Professor Carrera, who was described by our tour guide as The Walking Bible of the University of Havana. Prior to this we met one of Cuba's noted and knowledgeable architects, Miguel Coyula. He described and showed us a model of the old and new Havana. He shared the controversy among Cuban architects and city officials as to whether to employ its precious resources to preserve the old (the average building 75 years in age) or to extend the new. Common sites that we saw throughout the city and countryside were statues and pictures of Fidel Castro, Jose Marti and Che Guevara. Cultural images and shocks for me included cold water showers; young and old women puffing on cigars; and massive women and youth successfully thumbing and flagging down rides. We were assured by our tour guide that the latter was a daily routine and not a problem since crime rates were low; and rape could carry a 30-year prison penalty. A young teach I met in a Cuban school. He's only 18 years old. In addition to expressing great pride in the country's low crime rate, the Cubans that we met took great pride in their successful literacy campaign, and their high investment and emphasis on education and health care. Cuba was declared the first Illiteracy-Free Country in the Americas after its revolutionary victory. Mounting a national campaign in 1961 with some 100,000 youth assuming leadership, the illiteracy rate was reduced from 23.6% to 3.9% within one year (Carmen R. Alfonso Hernandez, 2007: 100 Questions and Answers about Cuba). We met with leaders at the Association of Cuban Teachers who shared their priorities regarding the professional development of teachers and research on effective teachers, and increasing adult education and self-esteem. They noted that some 93,000 students were currently studying for a Master's degree in Education Science Pedagogy. A MOST MOVING event was our visit to the Literacy Museum. We saw photos and descriptions of youth and adolescent teachers who vigorously participated in the literacy campaign but were subsequently killed along with their students by anti-revolutionaries. On the brighter side, we saw the photo of an 8-year-old girl and her father whom she taught to read and write. Two of the slogans I became familiar with and that emphasized the importance of education and literacy in Cubans were: If you know you teach; if you don't know you learn; and Jose Martin's words, Being literate is the only way to be free (Hernandez, 2007). We visited an elementary school in Havana. I was amazed to see classroom teachers as young as 18 years in the elementary and middle schools (see photo above of young male teacher). We learned later that in an effort to increase the number of schools and school teachers available, programs were designed which permitted 15 year olds to be trained and become certified teachers by the age of 18. These youth, along with older teachers, not only teach in formal school settings but also travel to teach students in rural areas who are not able to attend school. Cuban youth were often referred to as the protagonist in many of the historical and current movements in Cuba. My impression from limited observations and conversations was that young Cubans were vibrant and optimistic about the country's new leadership with Raul Castro, Fidel Castro's brother. Carmen Hernandez (2007) noted that Cuban youth themselves, say that they are not lost and that they have found themselves by meeting all challenges (p.76). THE ELEVATED status of women and health care for women and children were also areas that Cubans spoke of with pride. The Federation of Cuban Women was in part credited with the increased status and participation of women in Cuban society. In 2005, more than 70% of all graduated doctors and nurses were women, 71% of Cuba's teachers were women, and 23% of the seats in Parliament were held by women (Hernandez, 2007). Regarding health care, we learned that during pregnancy women are visited at home by a doctor or nurse and that they are able to remain at home with their infants with compensation until they are a year old. We were also told by women that in some cases where their salary is higher than their husband or the father of their child or children, the men can stay at home and engage in child care while the women return to their regular job. We also learned that infant mortality rates are low in Cuba (about 5.3 per 1000 live births) and among the lowest among 17 other countries (Hernandez, 2007). Current challenges in Cuba mentioned during our travels were low wages, lack of adequate housing and access to housing, and the need to improve hospitals, roads and highways. Another unique experience entailed visiting an Afro-Cuban cultural art center and witnessing the added Afro-Cuban flavor and culture to local music and art. This excursion was followed by a short ferry ride to a small seaport residency called Regla. Originally a place for slave trade, the 45,000 inhabitants there chose to remain separate from mainstream Cuban culture to preserve the historic culture of the area. Prominent at Regla and a tourist attraction is the Museo DE Regla and the Island's main Catholic Church which houses the only Regla Virgin. Both reflect the synergy and link that Remigio Herrera, a former slave and Priest, created between African and Spanish religion. Two hours outside of Havana, we visited Las Terrazas, an ecological community in the Sierra Del Rosario Mountains, and the rural school for the workers and their children in this community. The village, once a coffee plantation owned by the Spaniards, still had remnants of stoned slave huts that housed slaves from West Africa. With limited success, I attempted to push a huge and heavy coffee bean shelling wheel that was seemingly more suitable for horses than humans to push or pull. Our guide noted that former slaves initially pushed this wheel and horses did later as technology advanced. SEEING PHOTOGRAPHS of Ernest Hemingway (who spent some 22 years in Cuba), and passing places where he fished, drank, and worked on some of his classics (including The Old Man and the Sea) were also among my most memorable experiences. An additional impressionable, however, less pleasant experience was my inability to speak the language and to adequately converse with people. This reminded me of how fortunate SUA students are to have a language requirement and to be able to use it, and potentially improve upon it during their study abroad. Furthermore, the Cuba experience impressed upon me that as I continue to travel globally and attempt to make friends, I must become more culturally astute, sensitive and linguistically competent. Traveling to Cuba was, indeed, a rare and wonderful opportunity that I would highly recommend. However, having more in one's pouch than a pocket dictionary and a quick phrase translation of Spanish for Latin America was not enough for me. Thus, I will assume the challenge to increase my linguistic skills if only in small increments.		Dr Gail Thomas, Professor of Sociology
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