Visiting cuba as an american11/29/2023 ![]() The condition of a community’s public buildings and spaces contributes to civil society and its identity and reputation. General Labor: Occasionally, volunteers are engaged in maintenance and gardening work. This is a great opportunity to chat with Cuban women and learn about their culture, history, and daily lives, all while working together towards a shared goal. Volunteers who have experience in sewing, crafting, or knitting, work alongside these women several hours each day to help improve skills and offer ideas about the types of local crafts Americans are most likely to purchase. Volunteers play bingo and dominoes, paint nails, massage hands, conduct basic conversations in English, and engage seniors in other ways as requested.Ĭrafts & Knitting: Women’s cooperatives create aprons, clothing, purses, and other items that they sell to help provide for their families. Volunteers work with senior citizens on various projects, including conversations, assisting local staff, light labor, and meal preparation. Global Volunteers community partners help by conducting programs for the elderly at church facilities and nursing homes. Senior Center: Many seniors in Havana don’t receive sufficient meaningful services and engagement. Each volunteer engages in English conversations as a part-time service project in addition to one of the other community projects. Some students are beginners, while others are proficient but want to improve their conversational skills. Volunteers can engage young people and adults in conversations in English in small groups and one-on-one. Native English speakers are a valuable resource to learners. Many Cubans want to learn English to improve their job opportunities and to connect with the English-speaking world through tourism, the Internet, art, music, and other emergent avenues. There are several specific community projects in which volunteers are engaged:Įnglish Conversations: English is the international language of commerce, technology, and opportunity. Our Cuban community partners have asked us to focus our service on engaging local people in Conversational English, caring for older adults, harvesting community gardens that help feed the community, and assisting with light construction work on community buildings owned by nongovernmental organizations. Given the overall challenging economic situation, older people are adversely affected more than others. However, during the last two decades, the percentage of those over 64 has increased, and seniors generally have not benefited from the tourism boom. The Cuban population has remained at around 11 million since 2002. Accordingly, because most tourists speak English, there is great need and desire to learn English. Highly educated young men and women often abandon their professions to join the Cuban tourism industry because it offers better financial possibilities, and others select tourism as a way out of poverty. The Cuban economy struggles, many live below the poverty line, and abundant educational opportunities may not lead to fulfilling jobs. Unfortunately, these benefits do not always translate into prosperous lives. The United Nations ranks Cuba 67 th in human development in part because many Cubans are highly educated and most enjoy ready access to affordable health care. We offer these programs in Havana and Ciego de Avila in central Cuba. Global Volunteers’ service programs are included in the humanitarian projects and support for the Cuban people categories. There are 12 travel categories permitted by US law, including family visits, journalistic activities, professional research, religious activities, athletic competition, humanitarian projects, and support for the Cuban people, among others. Additionally, the traveler’s schedule cannot include recreation or free time in excess of that consistent with a full-time schedule. Further, each traveler to Cuba must engage in a full-time schedule of authorized activities, and each person must retain specific records related to the authorized travel restrictions. So, spending time at the beach or other typical tourist endeavors are prohibited, but Americans can go to a private jazz concert, just not one conducted by the Cuban government. For example, “Travel for tourist activities is not permitted,” but Americans can enjoy limited recreation and free time activities. It is necessary to read the fine print carefully. Over the past decade, US regulations regarding Americans travel to Cuba have changed, and sometimes they are confusing.
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