Nov 17, 2010, 01:16 PM
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbur...09359.html
By Jennifer Reeger
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, November 15, 2010
In the early 1990s, Chuck and Nancy Anderson made a list of places they'd like to visit around the world.
Though Cuba was on that list, the Andersons thought travel restrictions to the island nation would not allow them to visit the country where Chuck Anderson's parents had honeymooned in 1941.
But a chance encounter during a visit to Antarctica of all places allowed the Hempfield couple to fulfill their dreams and get a glimpse into a place that few Americans have been able to visit since communism took hold there in 1959.
"It's a beautiful countryside. It's a beautiful island," said Chuck Anderson, a Westmoreland County commissioner. "You get really close to it, and nobody's doing anything with it. It's all falling apart."
In January, while on a five-day expedition to Antarctica, the Andersons learned through a fellow traveler of humanitarian missions to Cuba. A few months later, they got more information and booked an October trip through Bringing Hope Foundation, a Miami-based organization that takes needed supplies to Cuba on humanitarian trips.
Their visit was licensed by the Treasury Department, which allows humanitarian missions to Cuba. The Andersons had to receive approval by the Department of Commerce for the supplies they were taking.
Each of the 20 people on the trip was asked to bring 10 to 15 pounds of basic supplies to be distributed through religious groups and rural schools to aid orphans, the disabled and AIDS patients.
The Andersons gathered nearly 50 pounds of toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss and mouthwash through friends who are dentists.
As they waited to board their flight from Miami to Havana, the couple marveled at some of the goods -- from tires to televisions -- that Cuban-Americans were taking to relatives. Americans with blood relatives in Cuba are permitted visits.
"They were taking everything you could possibly imagine," Chuck Anderson noticed.
When the pair got to Cuba, the reason became evident.
They noted that stores in which Cubans buy food with ration cards provided by the government most often had empty shelves, and people waited in long lines for goods.
Meanwhile, stores that accepted hard currency for payment were fully stocked.
Because jobs in the tourist areas provide tips in hard currency, many highly educated people in Cuba seek such jobs. A head waiter at a restaurant, who has a master's degree in engineering, lit Chuck Anderson's cigar one evening.
The tourist areas are in pristine condition, yet the Andersons knew that wasn't real.
"It was like being on a movie set," Chuck Anderson said. "It was all facade."
Many of the cars on the island's roads took him back to his younger days.
"It's like a 1950s car show," he said, remarking on all the American-made cars in pristine condition still on the roadways.
Most Cubans earn about $20 a month regardless of their jobs. Their housing, some food and their education are provided by the government.
"It nailed it down for me that communism doesn't work," Anderson said. "There's absolutely no incentive to do any more."
While there has been little incentive for private entrepreneurship, Nancy Anderson said, that seems to be changing as President Raul Castro aims to lay off 500,000 government employees.
"He's trying to encourage, 'Do a little more, and then that is yours,' " she said.
The Andersons said Cubans were very welcoming and warm. In conversations, they defended the Cuban system. Billboards everywhere tout, "The Triumph of the Revolution."
"They talk with great disdain about the time before the revolution," Chuck Anderson said. "American corporations were corrupting the country, and Fidel (Castro) came in and threw them out."
Yet Cuban tour guides would point out pre-revolution sites and buildings as the country's great gems, they noted.
Privacy was sorely lacking in Cuba, the couple added.
"Each community has its own snitch," Nancy Anderson said. The snitches report their neighbors for all sorts of violations.
And though they came bearing humanitarian supplies, the Andersons were considered by Cubans to be tourists.
"The people take a lot of pride in themselves," Nancy Anderson noted.
By Jennifer Reeger
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, November 15, 2010
In the early 1990s, Chuck and Nancy Anderson made a list of places they'd like to visit around the world.
Though Cuba was on that list, the Andersons thought travel restrictions to the island nation would not allow them to visit the country where Chuck Anderson's parents had honeymooned in 1941.
But a chance encounter during a visit to Antarctica of all places allowed the Hempfield couple to fulfill their dreams and get a glimpse into a place that few Americans have been able to visit since communism took hold there in 1959.
"It's a beautiful countryside. It's a beautiful island," said Chuck Anderson, a Westmoreland County commissioner. "You get really close to it, and nobody's doing anything with it. It's all falling apart."
In January, while on a five-day expedition to Antarctica, the Andersons learned through a fellow traveler of humanitarian missions to Cuba. A few months later, they got more information and booked an October trip through Bringing Hope Foundation, a Miami-based organization that takes needed supplies to Cuba on humanitarian trips.
Their visit was licensed by the Treasury Department, which allows humanitarian missions to Cuba. The Andersons had to receive approval by the Department of Commerce for the supplies they were taking.
Each of the 20 people on the trip was asked to bring 10 to 15 pounds of basic supplies to be distributed through religious groups and rural schools to aid orphans, the disabled and AIDS patients.
The Andersons gathered nearly 50 pounds of toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss and mouthwash through friends who are dentists.
As they waited to board their flight from Miami to Havana, the couple marveled at some of the goods -- from tires to televisions -- that Cuban-Americans were taking to relatives. Americans with blood relatives in Cuba are permitted visits.
"They were taking everything you could possibly imagine," Chuck Anderson noticed.
When the pair got to Cuba, the reason became evident.
They noted that stores in which Cubans buy food with ration cards provided by the government most often had empty shelves, and people waited in long lines for goods.
Meanwhile, stores that accepted hard currency for payment were fully stocked.
Because jobs in the tourist areas provide tips in hard currency, many highly educated people in Cuba seek such jobs. A head waiter at a restaurant, who has a master's degree in engineering, lit Chuck Anderson's cigar one evening.
The tourist areas are in pristine condition, yet the Andersons knew that wasn't real.
"It was like being on a movie set," Chuck Anderson said. "It was all facade."
Many of the cars on the island's roads took him back to his younger days.
"It's like a 1950s car show," he said, remarking on all the American-made cars in pristine condition still on the roadways.
Most Cubans earn about $20 a month regardless of their jobs. Their housing, some food and their education are provided by the government.
"It nailed it down for me that communism doesn't work," Anderson said. "There's absolutely no incentive to do any more."
While there has been little incentive for private entrepreneurship, Nancy Anderson said, that seems to be changing as President Raul Castro aims to lay off 500,000 government employees.
"He's trying to encourage, 'Do a little more, and then that is yours,' " she said.
The Andersons said Cubans were very welcoming and warm. In conversations, they defended the Cuban system. Billboards everywhere tout, "The Triumph of the Revolution."
"They talk with great disdain about the time before the revolution," Chuck Anderson said. "American corporations were corrupting the country, and Fidel (Castro) came in and threw them out."
Yet Cuban tour guides would point out pre-revolution sites and buildings as the country's great gems, they noted.
Privacy was sorely lacking in Cuba, the couple added.
"Each community has its own snitch," Nancy Anderson said. The snitches report their neighbors for all sorts of violations.
And though they came bearing humanitarian supplies, the Andersons were considered by Cubans to be tourists.
"The people take a lot of pride in themselves," Nancy Anderson noted.