It is 1 AM in the morning and we have just finished our conversations, covering a myriad of subjects and the entire world. We had begun around 10 am this morning, though lunch and dinner with occasional silence, we have carried through our conversations.
The superficial reality is easy to understand but hard to live by, but even harder is the other reality, in which your mind and your soul and your spirit, at times hoping to survive in the earlier reality.
Young women unable to be independent, becoming co dependent on men who are mature enough to handle that responsibility,
11 AM
I had barely woken up, when the telephone rang. In Cuba, the telephone is an important instrument and in my opinion, slightly overused. But I cannot imagine being here unable to contact friends near and far within Cuba, as other forms of communication or transport is not readily accessible. I am truly enjoying this vacation from Internet and thus taking care of the anxiety of wanting to check your email as well as surfing the net for latest news and other not so necessary information.
Good Morning, said the voice, I am in between two meetings, and I will drop by your house in ten minutes. I had to get ready quickly and be ready to welcome Mr C. A erstwhile Cuban Ambassador to Malaysia.
This is the beauty of Cuba and the value Cubans place on friendships. During the months of November and December, it is a very busy time at the Foreign Ministry and days are full of planning and meetings. The fact that he slipped off to come and see a friend whom he has met in KL, shows the integrity of Cubans. I cannot think of anywhere else in the world, where an Ambassador would take time off in between two meetings, get into the car and drive a few minutes and come and visit a friend.
Nice chat and recollections of our time together in KL and also about our mutual friend MC who is now in the process of becoming a Philosophical Counsellor. We talked about various embassies and people we know in common, from HoChiMinh City to Tarawa. I was interested to hear that Cuba had a project in New Zealand to educate Maoris using the system successful in Cuba and Latin America of Alphabetization. Imagine! A small poor country in the Caribbean helping a rich country on the other side of the earth.
Here lies the essence of the humanitarian aid that Cuba gives to others. What political benefit is to educate the Maoris to read and write ? and all these are not publicized to gain notoriety for the regime. Why is that a Cuban ambassador is one of the three ambassadors resident in Tarawa, Kiribati, coordinating the efforts of Cuban doctors and the local island students studying Medicine in Cuba?
This aspect of humanitarian aid, not something with a string attached, is one of the myriads of Cuban life that I am very proud of….
I look forward to a dinner with the ambassador and his family on my next visit to La Habana and present myself to the Embassy in KL with my friend MC to meet the new ambassador to Malaysia..
