wfn.org | 3 Stories, NCCCUSA Cuba Trip

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the 
U.S.A.

Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
Internet: news@ncccusa.org

59NCC6/11/98           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

****************************************************
NCC/CWS DELEGATION TO CUBA MAY 30-JUNE 2:
  Delivers Promised Medical Supplies to Old Havana 
Polyclinic That Was Down to Its Last Eight Pairs 
of Gloves; Pledges More Aid, Along With Continued 
Pressure for an End to U.S.-Imposed Embargo
  Sidebar: Church World Service Staffer, a Rotarian, 
Mobilizes Donation of Medical Equipment, Supplies 
for Cuba Polyclinic
  In Meetings With Church Leaders and With President 
Castro, Pursues Diverse Strategies for Securing 
"More Space" for Cuban Churches' Mission and 
Service, Including Two Ecumenical Conferences
****************************************************

"FOR THE CHILDREN! FOR THE CHILDREN!" CUBAN DOCTOR 
SAYS
AS SHE UNPACKS NCC/CWS DELIVERY OF MEDICAL SUPPLIES

 HAVANA, Cuba, May 30 - As she unpacked the tiny 
oxygen masks and other medical equipment made for 
use with children, a doctor at the Antonio Guiteras 
Holmes Polyclinic in Old Havana cried tears of joy.
 "For the children!," marveled Dr. Maria de los 
Angeles Marines, the clinic's director of emergency 
services.  "For the children!"
 Church World Service, the humanitarian aid 
ministry of the National Council of Churches, had 
promised this and other equipment to the Cuban 
Council of Churches for the woefully understocked 
emergency clinic during visits in December and 
February.
On May 30, NCC General Secretary Joan Campbell, 
who had taken part in the December visit, and 
several ecumenical and denominational colleagues 
from the United States and Cuba were present to 
fulfill the promise.  
They lent a hand as the clinic's staff 
inspected the newly arrived medical equipment and 
supplies, donated by two California Rotary Clubs in 
collaboration with Direct Relief International and 
shipped by NCC/CWS and UMCOR (United Methodist 
Committee on Relief).  (See sidebar, below.)
There were drainage and suction pumps, 
wheelchairs, x-ray cassettes, a crash cart, a 
defibrillator, lead aprons, an oxygen regulator, an 
EKG machine, bandages, surgical and exam gloves, 
sutures, thermometers, scalpels, needles, insulin, 
and much more - 3,000 pounds of equipment in all.
The goods arrived none too soon.  Commented Dr. 
Marta Salgado, the clinic's director, the clinic was 
down to its last eight pairs of gloves, which staff 
were doing their best to hold together with tape.
The staff's relief and joy were tempered by the 
realization that, tragically, a baby who had died of 
asthma the previous week could have been saved by 
the breathing equipment that arrived in the 
shipment.  
NCC/CWS is targeting several shipments to this 
busy clinic, which sees 5,000 emergency cases every 
month.  Set among the once elegant, now crumbling 
apartment buildings in the oldest part of Havana, it 
helps take pressure off area hospitals, but is 
frustrated by the difficulty of getting equipment, 
medicine and supplies under the embargo.
Dr. Campbell said she was as moved by the 
ingenuity of the doctors and nurses in coping with 
severe shortages as she was by the shortages 
themselves.
"Every time we visit," she said, "we are 
impressed with the skill, commitment and compassion 
of the doctors and nurses, who do so much with their 
specially tuned clinical diagnostic skills."  
The clinic's pharmacy includes 30-40 "natural 
medicines" that staff said they plan to keep using 
in any event, but is short of most others, including 
the most basic antibiotics.  
"We can only do as well as we do because of the 
medical knowledge and technical abilities of our 
doctors and nurses," said Dr. Salgado, a warm, 
energetic woman with twinkling eyes and a ready hug 
for her visitors.  "We work in very difficult 
circumstances, with few things."
Dr. Campbell affirmed that "we see that the 
Cuban people have the skill and knowledge, but they 
need the embargo lifted so they can have access to 
the food and medicine that are needed."  The NCC and 
its member communions, along with other groups, have 
called repeatedly for the normalization of relations 
between the United States and Cuba.
 After inspecting the shipment, Dr. Salgado led 
the ecumenical visitors in a tour of the building.  
She commented that trying to keep the ancient 
equipment functioning was "like taking care of a 
fragile old lady."  
For example, the x-ray machine - one of only 
two available in a district with 100,000 inhabitants 
- is so old that it is used "only in extreme 
emergency," she said.  Clinic staff call it the 
`United Nations' x-ray machine because, to keep it 
in use, they have combined pieces and parts from 
other equipment coming from various countries around 
the world.  
CWS has promised a new machine, and this summer 
j-as soon as direct flights become available -- 
will be forwarding 21 pallets of gloves, syringes 
and other disposables donated by the Ohio Medical 
Center.
Church World Service's assistance to this 
polyclinic represents a new phase in its aid to 
Cuba.  Over the past six years, CWS has responded to 
specific requests for help from the Cuban Council of 
Churches with 42 shipments of food, medicine, 
medical equipment, school supplies and other goods 
valued at $10 million.  CWS assistance is targeted 
to the most vulnerable members of Cuban society - 
women, children and the elderly. 
General assistance will continue, but CWS now 
also is targeting specific clinics and hospitals to 
help equip them for their work.  CWS is working with 
the Cuban Council of Churches to identify a second 
hospital for such assistance.n

CUBA POLYCLINIC SIDEBAR: CWS STAFFER, A ROTARIAN,
MOBILZES DONATION OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES

 ALTABENA, Calif. - The 3,000-pound shipment of 
medical equipment and supplies delivered May 30 to a 
busy emergency clinic in Havana, Cuba, was realized 
through a collaborative effort involving Church 
World Service, Rotary International and Direct 
Relief International.
 Gerald Clodfelter, resource development 
associate for the CWS Western Development Office in 
Altabena, Calif., visited the Antonio Guiteras 
Holmes Polyclinic during a CWS study tour to Cuba in 
February.  Church World Service is the humanitarian 
assistance ministry of the National Council of 
Churches.
 He and his seven traveling companions will not 
soon forget the harsh conditions they witnessed: the 
doctor working in an emergency room that lacks basic 
equipment, the technician washing test tubes in a 
sink of gray water because the detergent had run 
out, the patient who underwent surgery with no 
anesthetic.
 Mr. Clodfelter returned home armed with a list 
of the clinic's most needed items, drawn up by the 
Medical Commission of the Cuban Council of Churches, 
and went right to work.
"I went to a Rotary Club meeting in Simi 
Valley, where I am a member, and found myself 
sitting next to the Lieutenant Governor for Rotary 
District #5240," Mr. Clodfelter recounted.  
"When I mentioned to him that I needed to find 
medical supplies and equipment, he said he knew a 
place in Santa Barbara with a whole warehouse full.  
We began discussing how we might pull together that 
resource with Rotary International and respond to 
needs in Cuba at this particular hospital."  
Rotary International routinely sends medical 
equipment to areas of need, usually care of Rotary 
clubs on site.  But there are no Rotary clubs in 
Cuba.
The Santa Barbara group, Direct Relief 
International, is a public benefit, 
nondenominational and non-political organization 
emphasizing self-help through medical supplies and 
services for better health care. 
"We collaborate with health service 
organizations to process and ship, on a self-help 
basis, contributed medical goods to hospitals, 
clinics and dispensaries in some 48 countries," said 
Lanny Lake, DRI's transportation coordinator. 
DRI was able to supply most of what the 
polyclinic had requested, and voluntarily 
contributed an extra pallet of medical supplies.  
Mr. Clodfelter said.  Rotary International approved 
the participation of its Simi Valley Sunrise and 
Santa Barbara Sunrise clubs, both in District #5240, 
in what came to be called the "Cuba Partnership." 
Within 90 days, the 3,042-pound, seven-pallet 
shipment with a wholesale value of $33,800, had been 
put together.
Church World Service arranged for shipping 
under its U.S. State Department license to provide 
humanitarian assistance to Cuba, and contributed 
$2,000 toward shipping costs.  The United Methodist 
Committee on Relief (UMCOR) contributed $6,000 for 
shipping.
 "One of the goals of Church World Service is to 
work in collaboration with other organizations, and 
this was a model effort," Mr. Clodfelter commented.  
"CWS, DRI and Rotary all were excited about this 
project.  Such collaborations maximize available 
resources, make participation affordable for more 
groups and, as a result, have a bigger impact."n

NCC DELEGATION, IN MEETINGS WITH CUBAN CHURCHES, 
CASTRO, URGES "MORE SPACE" FOR CHURCHES' MISSION, 
SERVICE

 HAVANA, Cuba, June 2 - While in Cuba May 30-
June 2, a National Council of Churches delegation 
sought repeatedly to reinforce and expand the 
historic Protestant churches' "space" for mission 
and service. 
 Meeting With Cuban President Fidel Castro:  The 
delegation's final appointment during its three days 
in Havana was with Cuba's President Fidel Castro.  
He hosted the NCC and Cuban Council of Churches 
leadership Monday evening (June 1) for a six-hour, 
wide-ranging conversation that started around a 
conference table and concluded over dinner.
 "We congratulated Cuba on the tremendous growth 
of the churches here," NCC General Secretary Joan 
Campbell reported afterward.  "We are obviously 
encouraged not only by the strength of the churches 
but also by their energy.  The President affirmed 
that growth and said he would encourage more.  
"We said to him that it is very important for 
the churches to be able to be partners with 
government, working to care for the sick and the 
elderly, addressing prostitution and other social 
problems, and building housing," she continued.  
"The President talked about the importance of the 
church being of service to the society, and affirmed 
there be a space in Cuban society for the churches 
to play that role."
The U.S. and Cuban church leaders spoke with 
President Castro about the need for new churches in 
new residential developments, and he affirmed that 
would be possible with financial assistance from 
churches outside Cuba. 
President Castro expressed evident enthusiasm 
for a major international ecumenical gathering in 
Cuba.  Leaders of the Cuban Council of Churches 
earlier had described to their NCC colleagues their 
hope of arranging a pre-millennium conference late 
in 1999.  President Castro urged it be held as soon 
as possible, and pledged the Cuban government's full 
cooperation. 
"We take this proposal seriously," Dr. Campbell 
said, "and already have begun having conversations 
about how we might make that happen, perhaps in 
summer 1999."
The NCC delegation spoke repeatedly of its 
support for the Cuban Council of Churches, and 
shared their concern at reports that some groups  
from outside Cuba, including from Latin America and 
the United States, are trying to destabilize and 
divide Cuba's historic, ecumenical denominations.
"For example," Dr. Campbell said, "we were told 
that some missionaries have been coming from outside 
Cuba, offering Cuban pastors money, clothing and 
shoes in exchange for their loyalty.  Our point in 
bringing this up as people from the United States is 
that this situation is created not within the Cuban 
church but by intervention from outside, some from 
the United States.  Our concern is with those from 
our own country who intervene and create this 
problem for the churches in Cuba."
Commented the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated 
Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), "The 
experience all of us have had is of the integrity, 
growth and strength of the Cuban church.  We want to 
encourage our colleagues worldwide who seek to share 
the gospel of Christ to support these churches and 
not try to undermine them."
Worship in Havana Churches:  The Protestant 
churches in Cuba report a phenomenal growth, 
especially during the past three to four years.  
"Several of us in this delegation have made 
repeated trips to Cuba over the past 25 to 30 
years," delegation members said in a statement 
released June 1.  "We are excited about the 
increasing space that the Cuban churches have for 
the conduct of their own life and for their service 
to society.  At the same time, we are not na‹ve 
concerning the intensity of discrimination, and, for 
a time, persecution, that Cuban Christians have 
endured during the past several decades."
According to the Cuban Council of Churches 
Studies Center, 300,000 Protestants and 280,000 
Roman Catholics worship regularly in Cuba.
The CCC's member churches, some of which are 
more than 100 years old, are deeply rooted in Cuban 
society.  The CCC just celebrated its 57th 
anniversary.  The NCC (with 34 Protestant and 
Orthodox member denominations comprising nearly 52 
million U.S. Christians) and the CCC are "sister" 
councils with a relationship that extends back to 
before the 1959 revolution.
The Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian 
congregations in which delegation members worshipped 
on May 31 all reported an exponential growth.
The Methodist Church in Cuba has tripled its 
membership in the past five years.  The Rev. 
Kirkpatrick commented that the Presbyterian Church 
in Cuba is among the fastest growing Presbyterian 
churches in the world.  "My impression is there's 
been a real growth and revival of the Protestant 
churches in these past 10 years," he said.  "As 
people who believe that the growth of the church is 
helpful for any society, we rejoice." 
The Rev. Raul Suarez of the Ebenezer Baptist 
Church said he had 20 persons in worship in 1990, 
now he has 300, and there are 23 trained 
facilitators of "base community groups" that meet 
regularly in each others' homes for Bible study and 
prayer. 
Sunday mornings, Bible study groups for all 
ages occupy virtually every corner of the church, 
classrooms, courtyard and offices.  The adjoining 
Martin Luther King Jr. Center houses an ecumenical 
community ministry that is building 60 housing units 
and has an active program for children, youth and 
the elderly. 
The Rev. Dr. Joan Campbell, NCC General 
Secretary, preached the Pentecost Sunday sermon at 
Ebenezer.  "Pentecost is an encounter with the early 
church  and its struggle to be faithful," she said.  
"It wasn't an easy time to be a Christian. 
"But Pentecost is not just about ancient times, 
it is about us today.  We come here, North Americans 
and Cubans, people whose countries to not speak to 
each other, people whose leaders have never had a 
conversation.  In the Spirit, we understand one 
another.  We have different languages, cultures and 
histories, but we are related by the blood of Jesus.
"We have gifts to exchange.  You know how to be 
a Christian where it is neither easy nor popular.  
We live in a country where it costs very little to 
be Christian.  Your witness strengthens our faith."
Positive Reviews Following the Pope's Visit:  
The NCC delegation heard from their Protestant 
colleagues how the Pope's visit in January has 
benefitted all Christians.  "Religious language has 
found a greatly expanded space in public discourse," 
they remarked.  "We appreciate greatly the Pope's 
ecumenical spirit, the fact that he met with 30 
Protestant church leaders while he was here, and his 
welcome of all Christians to his public events."
Meetings With Cuban Council of Churches, 
Denominational Leaders: In a series of meetings with 
the Cuban Council of Churches Executive Committee, 
staff and Studies Center and leaders of CCC-member 
denominations, the NCC delegation:
  Promised to increase humanitarian aid to Cuba and 
to redouble efforts to end the embargo "that has 
brought so much suffering.  We will lobby against 
the Helms bill and in favor of the Rangel bill, 
because it allows not only for aid but also for 
trade," the delegation affirmed.  Commented the 
Rev. Dr. Albert Pennybacker, NCC Associate General 
Secretary for Public Policy, "The Helms bill does 
not allow trade and will have the effect of 
frustrating aid even though it purports to be a 
humanitarian aid bill."  Added the Rev. 
Kirkpatrick, "While we believe humanitarian aid is 
important, the most important is for the Cuban 
people to be able to purchase in ordinary markets 
the medicine and food they need to care for the 
people."  Noted the Rev. Dr. Thom White Wolf 
Fassett, General Secretary, United Methodist Board 
for Church and Society; "I become the student when 
I come to Cuba.  I listen, see and then return to 
the halls of Congress and to the White House with 
first-hand information.  I am working to 
demythologize the myths that have been created 
around Cuba, and I am working to defeat the Helms 
legislation."
  Agreed to join with the CCC Studies Center and 
Puerto Rican churches in a study process proposed 
by the CCC that will lead up to a December 1-4, 
1998, conference in Cuba.  The topic for 
discussion will be "Mission and Missionaries in 
Light of the Centennial" of the war between the 
United States and Spain and the U.S. invasion of 
Cuba and Puerto Rico.  Commented the Rev. Oscar 
Bolioli, Director for Latin America and the 
Caribbean for the NCC's humanitarian aid ministry, 
Church World Service, "I believe this will be an 
important dialogue because it opens new ways of 
collaboration."
 Besides Drs. Campbell, Fassett, Pennybacker and 
Kirkpatrick and the Rev. Bolioli, the NCC delegation 
to Cuba included Bishop McKinley Young, Ecumenical 
Officer for the African Methodist Episcopal Church, 
who joined the group midday Monday.  NCC 
Communication staffer Carol Fouke accompanied the 
group.

-end-
 -0-