In the past 12 years, since my frist trip to Cuba in the summer of 1997, I've been to the "forbidden isle" perhaps more than 15 times. On every one of those trips I have brought things with me to give to "the Cuban people," friends, acquaintances, and strangers.
I started with two or three boxes of donated medicines and multiple bottles of vitamins and asprins. Luckily, I was illegally renting a room from a Cuban doctor who brought me to the office of the director of his hospital to hand over the goods - so as to eliminate the famed
desvio ("detour" or pilfering) of donations. Though, I have since learned that giving donations to such a person was perhaps the worst idea of all!
Still, I have not been discouraged. Since that first trip, I expanded both my repertory and generosity, and have always tried to deliver my donations directly to their intended beneficiary, without using intermediaries. I have brought scores of letters (back and forth). I have brought cash. I have brought all kinds of magazines -
Hola!,
The New Yorker,
Encuentro de la Cultura Cubana,
Muscle and Fitness,
PC World,
Foreign Policy,
Foreign Affairs, and even copies of the dissident publication
CubaNet News, etc. (If you're wondering,
Hola! was easily in first place with
Muscle and Fitness,
PC World, and
Encuentro competing for second).
