wfn.org | Albany Area leaders take aid to Cuba following hurricane

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 17, 2002  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-32-71B{478}

NOTE: A photograph of Bishop Susan Morrison is available at
http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html online.

A UMNS Report
By Holly Nye and Don Perry*
 
A Volunteers in Mission team led by United Methodist Bishop Susan M.
Morrison brought supplies and support to the Methodist Church in Cuba
immediately after Hurricane Lili struck the island.

The 12 volunteers represented the combined leadership of the church's Albany
(N.Y.) Area, which comprises the Troy and Wyoming annual conferences. They
had planned to arrive in Cuba Oct. 1, but Lili got there first. The team
made the first leg of its journey, from New York to Jamaica, just as the
storm was passing over Cuba, but connecting flights from Kingston to Havana
were postponed.
 
The bishop and her team spent three days in Jamaica, where they saw the
damage wreaked by hurricanes Lili and Isidore. 

"We viewed the heartbreak of families sitting by the roadside, their homes
having been washed away," wrote team coordinator Charles Gommer. "We all
felt the anguish of their pain and dislocation. How we prayed that people
everywhere would reach out to them in their need." 
 
The volunteers finally landed in Havana Oct. 4, along with suitcases full of
donations from Troy and Wyoming conference churches for the people of Cuba.
They spent the next morning organizing the medicine, food, clothing, bedding
and school supplies into boxes for individual families. The medical supplies
included over-the-counter medications such as aspirin and arthritis pain
relievers, vitamins for adults and children, and salves and ointments for
cuts and burns. A New York hospital had donated prescription medications for
high blood pressure, ulcers and asthma, along with a supply of antibiotics.
 
Bishop Ricardo Pereira Diaz of the Methodist Church in Cuba took the boxes
via small plane into the hurricane-ravaged area of Pinar del Rio, about 150
miles west of Havana.  The gifts were the first supplies to reach that
region following the hurricane. 

When Pereira returned to Havana, he reported to the Volunteers in Mission
the response of the church superintendent in Pinar del Rio: "The crops are
destroyed, but we will plant them again. Our homes are destroyed, but we
will build them again. Our churches are gone, but the people of God remain,
and they will build the churches again." The superintendent embraced Pereira
in gratitude for his presence and the supplies. 
 
Once the hurricane boxes were prepared and sent, the Albany Area team turned
its attention to its assigned work project at the Guanbacoa church, on the
outskirts of Havana. The group painted the entire sanctuary and spent time
sifting sand, mixing concrete and cutting rebar for concrete walls being
erected as part of an expansion project. 
 
During the trip, the team met with Caridad Diago, director of Cuba's Office
of Religious Affairs. Diago is in charge of all relationships between the
government and religious organizations in Cuba. Visiting with Diago was a
privilege offered to the team because of Bishop Morrison's presence.

Diago said she affirmed the team's visit and its work "because the Methodist
Church of Cuba affirms the dignity of the Cuban people and its culture." 

When asked about the impact of U.S foreign policy in Cuba, Diago described
ways in which the economic embargo has hurt the Cuban people. Morrison
pointed out to Diago that the United Methodist Church officially opposes the
embargo in its Book of Resolutions. Team members committed themselves to
contacting U.S. legislators about lifting "the blockade," as many Cubans
call it. 

During the meeting, Morrison also presented Diago with a book inscribed to
President Fidel Castro.
 
Worship was a highlight of the trip. On the evening of Oct. 5, Morrison
preached at a rally of more than 500 youth and young adults, and the next
morning she preached in the Marianao Church, where Pereira serves as pastor.

"Worship in the Cuban church is creative and vibrant," said Barbara Lemmel,
Troy's conference minister. Charles Gommer, team coordinator, agreed: "The
Methodist churches in Cuba are bursting at the seams with life and love and
power and enthusiasm." 

Since erecting new church buildings is illegal, new congregations worship in
pastors' homes, often taking more and more of the family's living space as
the faith community grows. Nearly every small church, the team noted, had a
drum set and keyboard to accompany the worship music.
 
"We were privileged to be there and to help in even a small way with the
relief effort," said Alan Delamater, Adirondack District superintendent in
the Troy Conference. "We are thankful for the gift of life and hope we
received from the people of the Methodist Church in Cuba. We know we remain
in their prayers, as they remain in ours." 

# # #

*Nye is director of communications for the United Methodist Church's Troy
Annual Conference, and Perry is director of communications for the Wyoming
Annual Conference.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org