Making Ends Meet in Cuba
From the first hours after I arrived in Cuba, I found people wanting to discuss how difficult it was to make ends meet. Once again, I have to say that the people I met and talked to were probably not a representative sample of all of Cuba. What I relate here is only my personal experience.
It did not seem to me that unemployment
was a very big problem. The problem most visible was that the wages people made were not enough to even bring food to the table. Most people we met earned less than the equivalent of $20 a month.
We were told about a doctor who could not afford shoes. Although his feet were unusually big, this was a doctor in practice who was making around $25 a month. The owner of the apartment we stayed at told us that a group of friends had to come together to raise money for the $50 shoes that would fit his feet. He said that when asked if he liked the shoes, the doctor told them, "I have to like them, they fit my feet."
What we were told, and eventually became very obvious, was that most people deal in black market goods. People took things from their place of employment such as building materials, food, cigars, rum, to trade in the black market for things they need.
One night at a bar our friends had ordered some chicken. As they ate, they explained what a treat it was for them to eat chicken. When they were fortunate enough to get some otherwise, they usually fed it to their children.
The lack of food and money created many uncomfortable situations for us during our visit to Cuba. The mere fact that I am overweight was an issue to people we would pass on the streets, where people would boldly come up and rub my stomach, or say something like "You're well fed, aren't you?" Although everyone was friendly and gentle, I could see the look in their eyes of "why do you have this much food, when I don't have enough to feed my children? "
The need for money was also very present in the relationships that we developed. As I mentioned, among friends, Antonio, Franc and I were assumed to be treating everyone in our group. After a few times this got to be a costly situation. A situation arose with the two couples we had befriended that left us with very mixed emotions. After we met the couples, we found that they would just show up at the apartment they had helped us find, and look for us to go out and party at a bar. One day, we agreed to go to the beach, there were now 7 of us, with a year old baby. After paying for two taxis to take us to the beach (around 40 minutes out of town) and for drinks all day at the beach, one of them turned to me and said, "What are we going to eat now? The baby hasn"t eaten today." It is hard for me to describe the mixture of emotions this brought up. First, was the feeling that this was not my responsibility and resentment towards the fact that he was using the baby to get something from me. Secondly, was the feelings of guilt for having the anger and resentment in the first place. After all, he needed to do whatever he could to take care of his family, and in fact, I did money. Although we did not say anything and did send for food, Antonio and I later decided that the time had come to cut ourselves loose from that circle of friends. This too was difficult because they made attempts to meet with us and once again showed up at the apartment without any plans.
This also came up again with Lazaro, the first person I met in Cuba. After my discussion with him that first day when I asked him about the nature of our relationship, whenever I ran into him or that circle of friends, he was careful to say that we were friends first and foremost, then move on to tell me that he had not eaten that day and asked if I could spare a dollar. He invited me to his house for a meal on my last day there. He said he wanted to show his appreciation and prove that we were friends. When I showed up at his apartment he quickly asked me for $5 so that he could go get the food to cook for us.
Antonio and I were able to find friends who were not as blatant about the money issue, but it was still the subject of many conversations. It seemed that the need there was so great, but our money was limited.
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