The Daughters of Charity in Cuba

The Sisters arrived in Cuba in the mid-19th century to care for abandoned children.

Little by little, as needs arose, they grew to include 300 sisters and some 30 communities spread throughout the island. With the revolution of 1959, the authorities exiled many consecrated persons, priests and committed lay people and closed all the educational centers run by religious communities.

The Daughters of Charity and the communities in general have since suffered a considerable decrease in vocations, and the regime imposed on them until recently has caused them many difficulties.

Before the revolution, the Havana community ran a school for girls. Then the government imposed a reunification of all the communities in Cuba into one: the Immaculate Conception - Central House. The community began to reorganize its services as authorized by the government. Today it is composed of 10 sisters, 6 of whom are elderly and/or ill and can no longer carry out any activity.

The other Daughters of Charity now welcome people in need, elderly or sick: 9 men aged 30 to 60 and 21 women aged 25 to 70.

Context: The precarious political, economic and social situation of the country generates numerous needs in psychotherapeutic follow-up

The population is very affected by the upheavals suffered recently, including recession, pandemic, food and medicine shortages.

The US sanctions have made it very difficult to export goods to Cuba and money transfers from abroad have also been affected. 

This serious economic crisis, the worst in 30 years, and the resurgence of inflation are causing more and more people to leave Cuba to try their luck abroad, often leaving families broken up or isolated.

"There is currently in Cuba an abundance of despair, demotivation, lack of values, dreams, illusions... the family, the basic cell of society, is fractured, its relationships are deteriorated and affected by emigration. 

The shortage of basic foodstuffs, as well as the lack of basic medicines for chronic and other specific treatments, the lack of toiletries and hygiene products and the underlying inflation are reasons enough for the population to question whether or not they should stay on the island. This causes a dismemberment of Cuban families, leaving abandoned children, separated households, isolated parents and defenseless elderly people. The younger generations have no other goal than to flee, leaving this reality without freedom that suffocates them. In addition, the situation of the pandemic and the confinement of the early stages, as well as the overcrowding in which they live due to poor housing conditions have caused the breakup of couples and intra-family conflicts."

Sister Nadeslida, project leader

Treating psychological disorders through personalized support

Faced with these situations of deprivation, the population turns to the Daughters of Charity for help, not only material but also psychological and spiritual.

The objective of this project is to offer these families in the Central House an accompaniment at low cost and with simplicity of implementation. Today the sisters have begun this work but with a minimum of resources that do not allow them to go to the end of the project.

Professionals known to the Daughters of Charity will offer their services to provide therapeutic support adapted to each individual.

This follow-up will also be complemented by a flower therapy with many beneficial effects on the body without side effects or risks of addiction.

The project has several axes of intervention:

- To offer a space for individual, couple and/or family support

- To offer group sessions that will promote interaction between the different members

- To provide a space for spiritual accompaniment to those who want it

- Provide workshops on specific themes (grief, loneliness, family, motherhood, etc.)

- To offer educational spaces that encourage reflection (conferences, film-debates, parents' school, etc.)

At the individual level: through personalized naturopathic grief management consultations and psychological counseling.

At the group level: through workshops on self-esteem, communication, affectivity and social skills training, which promote a healthy, friendly and fraternal coexistence.

The project will last for 1 year, renewable if we see fruits at the end of it.

The actors of the project, Daughters of Charity & beneficiaries

This project is aimed at the long-term residents of the Central House, but also at all those who frequent it: children, adolescents, young people, couples and the elderly, a total of about 200 people.

"They will find help to heal their wounds, close unfinished situations, grieve, or resolve any other unfinished situations that prevent them from moving forward.

It will allow them, thanks to the tools received, to change their lifestyle, to learn to know themselves, to communicate well, to manage their emotions, to have a healthy relationship with their body and to increase their self-esteem."

Sister Nadeslida

The results will be measured through personal evaluations at the end of each therapy.

Several people will be involved in this project:

- Sister Nadeslida Almeida Miguel, project leader

- 2 paid therapists: Pavel Fundora Díaz and Mirelys Gonzalez Viera,

- 1 volunteer psychologist: Janely García 

The Immaculate Community will collaborate in this project by providing the necessary materials and utensils (premises, chairs, tables, laptop,...).

"In Cuba, it is impossible to obtain subsidies, because the government does not finance this kind of social project, and there are no NGOs because they are not authorized.

We need your help to finance this project and we want the beneficiaries to become aware of the value of this accompaniment, so we will ask them for a small contribution from the beginning of the project."

Sister Nadeslida

A big THANK YOU for your help!