David Mellnik's Reflections - March 2008

Are you middle class? Are you impoverished? Are you wealthy? How do you see yourself? How do others see you?


In Las Margaritas we had several interesting conversations, and many of them seemed to me to relate to these questions—but first let me describe a little of what we saw:


  • • The entire church has the rough square footage of 2/3 of our Fellowship Hall. This includes the living quarters for the Pastor, Zenaida, and her husband.
  • • Each day there are 40-50 boys who show up to play baseball. Almost all are barefoot. They own one pair of shoes, and they aren’t for baseball.
  • • The average home in Las Margaritas I would estimate to be 500-700 square feet. This includes the living room, 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and the bathroom.
  • • Much of the transportation is either by horse and buggy, converted tractor which dates from the 1950’s, or occasionally a car. On the first day we were there the driver of the van which carried us back and forth from Havana to Las Margaritas had to borrow duct tape from us to repair the radiator.

In the USA we consider these people to be impoverished. And yet, our group was welcomed and hosted in such a way that after a couple of days we all recognized that should a member of that church visit us, it would be absolutely impossible for us to care for them as lavishly as they cared for us. Our meals were veritable feasts, consisting of vegetables grown on the island, many of which we were eating for the first time. When asked how the black beans and rice dish was prepared, Tamara described a process that was certainly six or seven steps beyond what I would have thought necessary. We learned upon leaving that the women who cooked for us would have liked to have come to the airport to see us off, but they had taken vacation days so they could prepare our meals. I am not certain, but I think there were five women who cooked for us – all day.


The weather was warm, especially as compared to here now. The temperature stayed in the 80’s, and the humidity was high, especially in the afternoon. Each day when the heat and humidity were about to be the absolute worst, at exactly that time, we were given the most refreshing drink I have ever had in my life: grapefruit juice clearly from grapefruit picked that day and refrigerated to the point of having small bits of ice floating on the top. I have never had a drink like that. It was absolutely wonderful.


I could go on, but I’m running out of space...


My point is this: when we asked them where they see themselves in society they said that they were clearly in the middle class. Zenaida began telling us of people on the east side of Cuba who were as bad a shape as she has seen in a long time. One family in particular, had walked from the "orient" to Eben-ezer Baptist Church because they had heard about them, and thought that the people of that church might be able to help. The family had one pair of shoes which was destroyed in the walk. They were starving and covered in filth. Our mission church now has a significant mission to the people on the other side of their island.


On one hand we are so wealthy. Our incomes are good. We own large homes, some of us with acres of land; maybe even a swimming pool. We each drive a car – not each family, each person – and our cars are new and kept in pristine running order.


On the other hand we are so impoverished, lacking the intimacy of community that our brothers and sisters enjoy in Cuba. Even more and perhaps most importantly, we lack their reliance on God, their faith in God’s love and providence, and their willingness to face incredible opposition. Being able to witness this absolutely humbled us all.