Shopping

Sorry for not posting last week, I forgot. This past week I attempted to do some shopping for clothing and things. That was truly an insightful experience. For starters in a lot of stores things are kept behind counters and you must ask for the item to see it. It is not odd for only one size to be there or for things to be made of unknown stretchy Lycra type fabrics. It seemed that very few things were made of cotton like fabrics. I was a little surprised at the prices of many things as well. Shirts cost I would say on average $14 each and were of poor quality. I tried to think of who could afford to buy these clothes, because making only about $12 a month would not leave enough to buy clothing at these prices. It is no wonder that consignment shops full of discarded clothing from wealthier countries are so popular. I once heard here that at many of the rallies and celebrations put on by the state, like Fidel’s birthday or celebrating the triumph of the revolution, give free t-shirts to people. At first my thought was ‘ok so what, who cares about a free shirt’ but now I realize that when clothing is so expensive a free shirt is something that people would want and therefore would go to events if only just to get the shirt. It really does put a question mark on how much the people actually do support the government sponsored rallies and events. Are most people there for the free shirt or there for the actual celebration?

Classes here are starting to get more interesting. We are beginning to discuss topics which are from the first few years of the Revolution. For example how the state implemented new housing initiatives, land reform and education initiatives. One of my professors, Rosa, was thirteen when the literacy campaign began. The literacy campaign basically sent students to small towns and other cities to teach older people as well as younger people how to read and write. She was sent to work in the Oriente province and taught not only the elders of the village to read but also the young children who attended school but often without a teacher. At the time there was a shortage of teachers and professionals, due to the influx in emigration to the United States soon after the triumph of the Revolution. She described a scene where children traveled miles to attend a multi-grade school where many days their teacher could simply not come due to the distance she needed to travel. She did not live in the town and was ‘imported’ from a larger town a few hours away. Therefore although children attended school it was not a guarantee that they would become literate or receive proper education. She described how at an early age teenagers were needed to teach others and to help in agricultural campaigns throughout the island. Today although there are many teachers, there is still a shortage. It is not uncommon to turn on the TV and have one of the few channels having a televised history class or language study course on during the day, for students in Havana school who may not have an actual teacher for the class. What I wonder is how do they ask questions and get clarification on subjects? There is no actual teacher at the school but rather one in a television studio which may be miles away. How can people be properly educated? Hopefully later this week when our group visits what is called Ciudad Libertad, which is basically a city that is a school, some of these questions can be answered.