How to feed homeless in Cuba despite setbacks

How to feed homeless in Cuba despite setbacks
Mar 13, 2014 By Guest columnist
By Carmen Sesin

It was a picture on twitter of homeless people sleeping in a kiosk on
top of newspapers and covered with old rags, in her hometown of Colon
that caught the attention of Maria Cama, 12 years after she left Cuba.
"It impacted me so much," said Cama from her small office in Miami where
she teaches piano lessons.
For Cama, it was evident the amount of people begging on the streets had
increased in Colon – a town of about 72,000 in the province of Matanzas.
In fact, the Cuban government has acknowledged in the past the island
has a deficit of 600,000 homes.
"I'm sure it's much more than that… . there is a crisis with housing and
this has been the case for a long time," said Ian Vasquez, Director of
the Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity.
Cama decided "we can do something together between exiles and the
opposition in Cuba," – a concept that hasn't been seen often during 55
years of communist rule.
She contacted opposition activists in Colon who agreed to work with her.
The first meal, held on April 27, 2012, in the house of Caridad
Burunate, a member of the opposition group Ladies in White, was a
success. Those who attended were surprised.
"They were so happy and also shocked, asking who was organizing this and
why," Burunate said by phone from her home in Colon where the dinners
are held weekly.
As the project grew, they not only fed homeless, but also needy members
of the community who don't have enough to eat on a daily basis,
including mentally ill, elderly, children, and handicapped.
Originally the dinners were scheduled for each Saturday. But according
to Burunate members of State Security would wait at the corner and
detain people as they walked to her house.

Cama decided to hold the dinners spontaneously, rather than on a fixed
day in order to avoid detentions. The day the dinners are held, a few of
the 10 activists involved in the project comb the streets looking for
the needy.
The individuals, many of whom are considered social outcasts, feel at
home in Burunate's house and stay for a good part of the day. "We treat
them with a lot of love and affection," she explained.
According to Burunate, she has faced acts of repudiation since the
project began, with government supporters throwing asphalt, excrement,
eggs, and rocks at her house. She said the opposition activists involved
in the project have been temporarily detained and freed in remote areas
each weekend since the project began.
"Project Tondique," as it is called, is feeding around 50 people with
donations from individuals in the US and Spain. Also, some farmers in
Cuba donate fruits and vegetables they cultivate on their land.
Cama said she wanted the name of the project to unify the historic exile
community with the new opposition in Cuba, so she chose the name
"Project Tondique," after a legendary figure some regard as a patriotic
hero.
Margarito Lanza Flores (AKA Capitan Tondiquee) was a 24 year-old peasant
who rebelled against Fidel Castro's forces in the early 1960s. According
to local stories, he evaded being captured for a long time because he
knew the land well. "He knew how to dig holes, walk backwards.. . when
they were looking for him in the South, he would appear in the North,"
Cama explained proudly.

Tondique was finally captured, tortured, and executed. "Before being
killed, Tondique said 'come over and see how a real man dies,'" she
said. According to Cama, Tondique's name unifies the exile community
with the community service of the new opposition.
Vasquez said initiatives like 'Project Tondique,' "are a reflection of
attitudes among Cuban-Americans. Some of it is generational. People are
tired of old policies not working."
Cama concluded, "with the help of God, if the funds continue coming in
and I find the right people to work with, I would like to expand the
project throughout Cuba."

Source: How to feed homeless in Cuba despite setbacks | Voxxi -
http://voxxi.com/2014/03/13/how-feed-homeless-cuba-setbacks/