Missionaries in Cuba: “In our workshops women discover many gifts they did not even know they had”
On International Women’s Day, we highlight the work of a group of religious sisters from the Company of Mary in Cuba, who have managed to continue to provide assistance to young people, the elderly and women with the help of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
“This is a time to share and to receive hope, to look boldly into the future,” the religious sisters in Cuba of the Company of Mary Foundation from Mexico assure us. The Island nation of Cuba is going through a critical period. With the dollarisation of almost all sectors, aggravated by inflation, there is a great lack of medication and supplies, as well as fuel and even jobs. All of this has an effect on the pastoral work of the religious institutions, which of course includes the Company of Mary. “Despite everything, we are witnesses of how God helps people to discover they are loved,” the sisters tell Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Based in Havana, through their daily challenges they help to sustain something much greater: the belief that one small act of love can change everything.
The neighbourhood of Diezmero, on the outskirts of Havana, is where most of their work takes place, but there are others as well. Many families in Diezmero are facing difficulties because of the lack of resources and opportunities. Many of those who live there originally come from other parts of Cuba, but the lack of employment, among other things, makes it difficult for them to move up in life. The missionaries’ work is focused on alleviating the difficult situation of those who live on the margins of the system. “The crisis has had a deep effect on us,” the sisters explain. “All the prices have gone up. Every day more people knock on our door to ask for help. But we remain set on keeping our presence and our work here.” The sisters do commendable work with the elderly and young people, whom they help to “keep busy, to prevent them from falling into addiction and other social dangers that are present around the neighbourhood”, they explain.
Workshops for women: solidarity, creativity and self-discovery
In other areas of Cuba that they are also active in, they provide training workshops, mixed with handicraft and embroidery, which are attended by many women. There are three workshops, in Esmeralda, La Filial and Caonao. “In La Filial, the women who attend our workshops are already selling their creations and sharing the money amongst themselves, with much honesty and solidarity. They say that being together is like therapy, and when they do their embroidery, they forget their worries,” the religious sisters tell ACN.
Thanks to the training that they get in these workshops, which also cover subjects like self-esteem, dignity and honesty, “they not only increase their self-esteem and feeling of dignity as women, they also discover many gifts they did not even know they had,” the religious explain.
“The people’s love and their trust in us are the greatest reward we get”
Over the past years, ACN has been cooperating with the Company of Mary in a number of projects in Cuba, including the rehabilitation of community centres, the distribution of catechetical material and the organisation of training sessions for laypeople and religious. This assistance, the sisters say, has made it possible to carry out their mission more effectively. The people’s love and their trust in us are our greatest reward,” say the sisters. “These are people of great faith, and this rubs off on us, filling us with delight in the Lord who dwells within.”
“Being able to share our lives with the people of the neighbourhood, greeting them every day, listening to them pray together, makes us very happy. We feel happy to share in their lives. Sharing in their dreams motivates us to continue to invest in this mission,” they conclude, adding: “We are very grateful to ACN for helping us to continue to nurture this portion of the Kingdom which was given us to build.”
In 2024, ACN supported 936 projects with female religious around the world, for a total of over €10.4 million. This support mostly took the form of construction projects (€3M), vehicles (€1.4M), religious formation (€2.9M) and subsistence aid (€2.5M). Emergency aid also went to help religious sisters in very poor and neglected areas in Latin America, as well as to supporting schools run by women’s congregations in Lebanon.
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