In Kairos Times, Great Possibility Can Be Born: Reflections from the Cuban Pilgrims
Once again we’ve arrived at the beginning of the church calendar and advent. In this season we connect ourselves, families, and communities to the anxious waiting for the great mystery of Christmastime. In very similar fashion, the Pullen Cuban Ministry was in a 2.5 year season of anxious waiting. Waiting to travel to Cuba. Waiting to embrace our friends in Matanzas. Waiting to grieve those that have been lost since our last visit. Waiting to return to the city of rivers that ties us into one big Baptist family through and against the imperial blockade of the US government. In late 2019 people gathered in Room 202 to think about an adult Spring 2020 trip to Matanzas to
continue the more than 30 years of relationship-building with our sister church, the 1st Baptist Church of Matanzas. As with all our lives, this trip was postponed due to COVID-19 ravaging our communities. Fast-forward to the summer of 2022 when we began to plan for new dates for our journey to Cuba for October with the small group of 6 people originally planning to travel in 2020. We have journeyed to Matanzas and returned and we are overjoyed to share with the Pullen community that the state of our relationship with the 1st Baptist Church Matanzas could not be undone by time, COVID, a hurricane, an explosion, food lines, power-outages, currency confusion, or a lack of embodiment of the wholeness of our church family expressed only in our spiritual embrace when we are together. Our relationship is strong, and the conditions people in Matanzas are facing are dire. The Cuba Ministry Group encourages you to read this report
from our journey to Matanzas, and to mark your Advent Offering specifically for our Cuba partnership.
On August 5th, 2022 lightning struck the oil storage facility in Matanzas causing an explosion that included as many as four massive oil tanks and lasted for five days before it was brought fully under control, killing 18 and injuring 125 people. This explosion has led to a lack of oil to produce electricity for the island. To keep electricity on for at least part of the time in all provinces, electricity is rationed. Power is on for a few hours, and then off for many. There is no pattern to the power outages and no way to fully predict when power will return or for how long it will be on. This means that whenever the power comes on, food must be prepared and cooked, fans need to be run to push the mosquitos away, water must be pumped to the rooftop cistern, and on and on. As you can imagine, people were tired from lack of sleep, and from the anxiety of not knowing when the power would return. Because the power is often out, fans are not running across the country which has led to one of the worst years for Dengue Fever. Many people at the church had recently had Dengue, or were at home with Dengue while we were there.
On September 27th, 2022 Hurricane Ian struck the far western provinces of Cuba. The country, already suffering from the oil explosion, struggled to funnel resources to the most impacted people on the island, leading to more power outages, fuel shortages, and food shortages in particular across the island. Everywhere we went we heard people talking about resources. Which bodega has chicken, or rice, or beans? Which rations are available and which are not? Where can we find bread and eggs? For those who have traveled to Cuba before, the best way to explain the increased shortages is to say that the big supermarket on Calle Medio (a few blocks from the church) was completely empty except for 5, 1-gallon jugs of cooking oil. El Rápido did not have ice cream or sodas, just a few beers and bottles of water. The bodega across the street from the church is no longer stocked with rum! Everyone spent the majority of their days in lines waiting for food, and on their phones calling neighbors trying to figure out what is available.
To make matters worse, the new currency is confusing and the people do not understand the cost of items for sale or the worth of their money. This is coupled with incredible inflation and a mass exodus of mostly young people from the island hoping to immigrate to the United States. Throughout Matanzas there were signs on doors advertising that the home is for sale. People are selling their homes and all of their worldly possessions in order to attempt immigration. Devastatingly, many people are deported by the USA government back to Cuba where they literally have nothing to return home to because they have sold everything. To say that conditions on the island are dire, is an understatement. People are struggling to remain hopeful in these difficult times. We heard from many of the older church members that what they are experiencing now is worse than the special period of the 90s following the fall of the USSR.
With our knowledge of some of these conditions in mind, we communicated with Wanda and Orestes before traveling because we were deeply concerned about the ever-worsening conditions, particularly with the recent hurricane. We worried that our travel would be an unwelcome hassle, contributing to increased hardships for the church and the Kairos Center. Wanda and Orestes assured us by reminding us that we were family, and family is always welcome. On our second day in Cuba we sat down with church members for a morning devotional and studied Matthew 12:46-50. In this verse Jesus defines family as all those who do the work of God. It was with this theme of family and of our family reunion between congregations that based our mission work of relationship and accompaniment throughout our visit in Cuba.
Last week, Nancy preached about the radical hospitality of Mary offering her womb for the yet to be born Messiah. A type of hospitality that is deeper than even the best of “southern hospitality.” While
we are in Matanzas, we are often treated to, and participate in a similar radical hospitality.. This trip began on an incredibly sunny day and an easy flight to Havana. After some time waiting at immigration for our visas it became clear that our travels to Matanzas would be delayed. After an off-highway detour to get around a Chinese fuel convoy, and the onset of near black-out conditions caused by a torrential thunderstorm, we began to understand that our arrival to the church would be both after-dark and in the rain and we began to mourn the loss of what would normally be an incredibly festive welcoming of Pullen travelers to Matanzas. As we drove into the neighborhood of the church we quickly discovered that the neighborhood was without power as well. And...much to our surprise, the entryway of the Kairos Center was packed with church members who were singing and shouting and celebrating our arrival. And there was nary a dry eye to be found as the first of many radical acts of hospitality commenced in the deep and loving embraces we experienced upon our arrival.
The First Baptist Church is known across the city as a place of refuge for anyone seeking to belong. They build community with literally anyone and everyone who walks in the door. New faces and familiar faces alike. Since the pandemic began many of the church’s members have become shut-ins. Transportation isn’t always available for people to come to the church because fuel is scarce and money is tighter than ever before. This trip, Pullenites had the wondrous opportunity of making house calls to spend time with shut-ins. Despite the modest living spaces, in every home there was always a place to sit fo everyone no matter how many people were in our group, or how unannounced our visits were. Chairs just seemed to appear in the spirit of the great mystery of the loaves and fishes story. And among friends we shared medicinal tea with Mimi and Alberto, funny stories and jokes with Melania, flan with Mayra, and laughter, hugs and kisses with all.
While in Cuba we often find ourselves coming and going in modes of transportation that are often difficult to describe to folks in the United States. This year we rode in a vehicle that even the Cubans have not yet created a name for. Those who have traveled to Matanzas before will recognize the Cuban ingenuity of a vehicle that is part motorbike, part tricycle, part canvas-covered mule cart, and painted like a New York City taxi! The six of us, along with Benny, and for a moment Kenny, crammed into the taxi to visit church shut-ins.
The taxi driver took to the hilly and pothole riddled streets of Matanzas with gusto and confidence. However, one water-filled pothole along the way was deeper than perceived and in seconds the taxi was pitched to the side and the driver fell from his seat and we needed to jump out the back before the vehicle completely rolled over! No one was injured, and we all had a good laugh about the adventures in transportation while in Cuba.
As has been mentioned, life in Cuba is incredibly difficult right now. And more than ever, the community was excited for the tradition of the Pullen and 1st Baptist Beach trip to Varadero. And unfortunately there were more interested families than transportation allowed... or so we thought. With some additional figuring of finances we decided that it would be possible to find an additional vehicle to get us to the beach.
Again, the radical hospitality mindset of everyone in, nobody out was apparent in the discovery that Benny had secured not only 1, but 2 tourist buses for the trip! We were blown away at the dogged hope that let this miracle occur!
Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, through our Cuba Ministry, is a fiscal partner to the Kairos Center for Liturgy, Arts, and Social Work at First Baptist Church. Their work includes liturgical training for congregations across the country; music, art, performing arts instruction; social work training; communication and publication training; and economic training. The Kairos Center as an
extension of the ministry of the church is a vital resource for the entire city! They do all of this and more in a space smaller than Finlator Hall! On this trip to Matanzas, we had our accommodations at
the newly remodeled “Los Pullen” Kairos Center dormitory! We were also treated to a tour of the collapsing building behind the Kairos Center. Here, we were grounded in the incredible vision for the center’s future. An expanded space with music practice rooms full of instruments. With a library for community use. A conference room for groups
to meet and work in, a training center for their social work department and so much more. In the finest of Cuban qualities we saw a future where rubble is sorted, supplies
like tiles and bricks are saved, and a vision for the Kairos Center can be birthed into reality amongst a collapsed roof, a tree growing from within, and old love letters scribbled on the walls of a former bedroom.
This is indeed a Kairos moment, a time of great possibility, in the history of Cuba. The revolutionary spirit that has held a people together for decades is waning amongst the young people who have yet to see the promises made and unable to be kept as the USA keeps its boot profoundly and harshly strong against the necks of the Cuban people. And a visionary hope for the future of Matanzas and of the entirety of Cuba is being born through the work of the Kairos Center and the First Baptist Church of Matanzas.
In our closing, tear-filled goodbyes at the seminary, Deivis, a young adult at the church, reminded us that though there seems to no longer be hope, it is times like these (a visit from Pullen) that remind him that life is still worth living. Indeed our international relationship in Cuba is strong. Your advent offering, marked for Cuba, will continue this relationship and help to birth a vision of hope in a country facing dire hardships. We welcome you to join the Pullen Mission Group as we continue this ministry of accompaniment and relationship by breaking through the embargo with our bodies and the gifts you give this advent season.
-Clinton Wright
