Volunteer work in Cuba

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I have talked to a couple of people who told me that while traveling in Cuba a few years ago they arranged to do volunteer labor on a farm for a number of weeks in exchange for room and board, ala WWOOFing, only without any prearranging.

However, my sense from tourist info I have read is that foreigners might not actually be allowed to participate in Cuban society in this way. lots of guidelines and controls on where they can take up lodging, make purchases, etc, that would seemingly make such an arrangement a legal liability, probably more for the farmer than the traveller. Does anyone have any experience, direct or indirect, in this realm? Thanks!

dannytran53
Posted: 02 Mar 2007
9:31am (NEW!)
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37th Brigade - Summer 2006
The 37th contingent of the Venceremos Brigade will be in Cuba in the summer of 2006. Although exact dates have not been determined, the trip is 2 weeks long, and we anticipate being in Cuba in the first half of July.

If you are interested in joining us, please contact us to find out about the application process.
www.venceremosbrigade.org

dannytran53
Posted: 02 Mar 2007
9:34am (NEW!)
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Cuba need your help, apply for the job please. Don't forget to bring your own equipment and your money.

John, other than "Brigades" which are organized by interest groups, there ain't nothing else that is common public knowledge.

John,

if you really want to help prolong the existing regime you can contactcuba solidarity UK and ask for their Canadian equivalent

They organise the 'work brigades' - which I find so very iffy!

Don't these volunteers realise that the monumentally massive USSR regime collapsed because 'communism' just didn't work?

By the way, at least spell the name of your marxist hero correctly - 'Che Guevara'

I think you should go to Africa and try to help out if you feel that guilty about lounging and drinking.

If you want an organized program, and are willing to do farmwork, the Venceramos Brigade, mentioned above, is the most well-known group, which has been going on for decades. It is organized by the Cuban government, which naturally charges for the time it invests in food, lodging, health care, translation services, training, transportation, supervision, and organization of all of those services for the volunteers; thus one must pay for this experience, as it is not one Cuba (or any poor country) is in a position to provide for free.


If you prefer to go as an independent, once people get to know you on any farm, I doubt your offer to help out with the work would be refused. BUT...this could not be IN EXCHANGE for food and lodging; this sort of program does not, to my knowledge, exist in Cuba. You cannot lodge just anywhere in Cuba, and most certainly, you cannot lodge on a farm just because you happen to be volunteering there. The only places you can legally stay in Cuba are places which are licenced to host foreigners. Apart from the usual tourist lodgings, these would include private homes licenced to rent rooms to foreigners, but these are normally in towns which have enough foreign visitors to support such enterprise. There are also campismos, the Cuban version of a campground, but most of these, being in the mountains or on the beach, are not well-located to provide easy access to a farm where one might hope to volunteer.

There are some farms, principally government-owned research facilities, where, if you wanted to pay something on the order of 50 CUC per week, you could stay and do a work/study program. This would include dorm lodging and simple meals. Dr. Alberto Fuentes Azcuy and Dr. Marguerita Vidal did run such a program, about 40 km from Havana. I do not know if they still do, or if this e-mail is still valid, but you can check: fazcuy@inca.edu.cu

There is also a estacion ecologica (environmental research station) in the Zapata Swamp, about 5 km north of Playa Larga at the head of the Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs). There were some foreign reseachers when I passed through a couple of years ago, staying in simple but comfortable private rooms which rented for about 15 CUC/night. However, the facility had only four such guest rooms. I was told that anyone could stay there and go out with the reserchers, but I expect one would need some kind of scientific or research background in order work there--even as a volunteer.

And of course, if you go to Cuba and simply hang out with the folks, I'm sure many of them would welcome assistance fixing up a home, making repairs to some public building, or whatever kind of project might be going on, but... this would require you to spend some time in that community, getting to know people, to the point that they feel comfortable enough with you to accept your offer to participate. You should be prepared to supply your own tools and materials--or buy them. The reason for this is simple: Cuba has people, who are generally capable and far better educated than the majority in most poor countries. What they lack are financial resources (materials and tools) to do many jobs. One example would be plumbing and wiring, which in most homes and many public buildings is in appalling conditions. (I don't suppose that among the skills you would be willing to volunteer would be those of a competent electrician or plumber?

You'll find some way, but naturally you'll have to pay a fair bit of money for doing the work.

I was waiting for someone to post just that. Volunteering in Cuba for 2,3 or 4 weeks will COST YOU as much as Club Med.

You have to pay for the privilage of working for the Rob-o-lution.

Just coming back from a volunteer work in Cuba I can let you know my modest experiences but quite rewarding personally:
The first project I decided to do is to clean up part of Guanabo beach. Cubans don't have the same awakeness of salubrity and they littered the beach with plastic bags or broken beer glasses: I cleaned up a big part of the beach to the astonishment of some cubans. Some did come to help. I was haunted by the fact that anybody can seriously injure himself if cutted by broken glasses.
The second project was to shovel all the sand dunes along a back road parallel to the beach. The sand is a real physical barrier for all cars and they use to call up a bunch of people to push the cars through that obstacle. I asked the help of one Cuban and got to pay for his time but we cleared the way.
Well those are my very modest contributions, and while not involving government agency or implicating huge amount of money, anyone can help and do something, anything that can make a better tomorrow for anybody.
I think that is the essence of your posted question.