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Hi, this is Marisha Kazeniac, Treasurer and Travel Coordinator of Caribbean Medical Transport. (CMT)
You're getting this email, either because you have written to us in the past, or because somebody who knows you thinks you are interested in Cuba. Our mailing list is growing every day, but we don't want to bother people who don't want to be bothered. So if you are not interested in hearing about the shipment of humanitarian assistance to Cuba every few months, please scroll down and ask to be deleted from our list!
In this newsletter:
1) RECENT CONTAINER ACTIVITY
2) GENERAL NEWS
3) TRAVEL UPDATES
4) HOW YOU CAN BE INVOLVED IN CMT
RECENT CONTAINER ACTIVITY
In 2004 Caribbean Medical Transport was able to send a total of 7 containers to Cuba - each container held up to 20, 000 pounds of needed medical equipment. The reason we are growing so fast is that there are so many organizations and individuals who want to help.
Since our last newsletter in January, we sent one container from Toronto to Mella, Santiago de Cuba, in cooperation with the Canadian non profit Dubois Family Foundation. The Foundation collected the supplies and did all the work, and CMT supplied the transport funds. A second container was sent from Saint Augustine, Florida to Baracoa and Santiago, with the inspiring cooperation of the Saint Augustine Baracoa Friendship Association. . We'll have the full inventory of items shipped available on our website within a few weeks.
We're just now packing our next container, which is leaving this week from Chicago. This is a shipment of about 300 donated bicycles and 100 wheelchairs, destined for Santiago, Baracoa, and Guantanamo. The wheelchairs will mostly be delivered to the people of Cuban Association for Individuals with Physical and Motor Limitations.(ACLIFIM). and the bicycles are either for ACLIFIM, or for people who work in Cuban hospitals.
We are working with Fundacion Amistad to send a full container of surgical equipment (255 boxes) and medical text books to Havana, scheduled to arrive within the next few weeks.
And we plan to send a total of 6 more containers within the next 6 months.
HERE'S A CHALLENGE TO THE WORLD. If you can get valuable supplies to Jacksonville, or Toronto, or Gulfport, Mississippi- CMT will pay all or most of the shipping to get it to Cuba!
GENERAL NEWS
CMT is honored to announce that two individuals affiliated with Rotary of Chicago, Don Fink and Patrick O'Day have donated $2,500 towards sending an entire container to Cuba. Another generous man, Carl Hagerstrom from Orlando, Florida, also donated $2,500 to fund an entire container. A third donor, Richard Stoudt, has pledged an additional $2,500.
I can not adequately express how grateful I am for these very large donations. Only the recipients of our medicine or our wheelchairs, or the parents of infants who now have access to a baby incubator that we were able to send- I think that only these people could explain how much these donations have meant, to CMT, and more importantly, to the people of Cuba
OTHER NEWS New Cuban regulations will make it more difficult to send samples and smaller quantities of medicine by container. So for the immediate future CMT will be sending most of our donated medicines by courier. If you are planing to travel to Cuba, and are willing to bring 10kgs of medicine to the location we assign- please contact us! If these new regulations go into effect, we will reserve the containers for medical equipment, basic supplies, clothing, vitamins, wheelchairs, bicycles, tires for ambulances, and large quantities of specific types of medicine; not for samples or smaller quantities of medicines.
Speaking of tires- there are over 100 ambulances that are stranded in Cuba for no other reason than lack of tires. We promised earlier that we would remedy that problem to the extent that we are able- but the tires are coming from Canada, and the warehouse is closed until the snow melts. We should be able to give everyone a tire report soon. We'll send a photo of every ambulance that we put back on the road to every $100 donor who participates in this project. Thus far 8 people have donated. We hope to send out these photos before our next newsletter!
TRAVEL UPDATES
The really good news is that CMT has received a renewal of its travel license for another year!
We have until March 15, 2006, to send qualified people to Cuba. Mostly we send health care professionals, but we can also authorize 'professional and technical specialists' who want to help us send substantial quantities of medical supplies. And if our license isn't appropriate, we work with other groups who also have specific licenses, either for humanitarian work, or to help the Jewish community in Cuba, or to work with people who are HIV+, so maybe we can refer you to somebody who can authorize you. Last month, 113 people paid a fine to OFAC, averaging about a thousand dollars, to avoid prosecution and higher fines. US Citizens or residents traveling to Cuba without a license are increasingly likely to be caught.
Our next scheduled trips are May 13- 20, and June 3-10 These delegations are space limited, so if you are interested, please contact me at
cuba@together.net For more details about our travel program, please take a look at our website,
www.cubacaribe.com. In particular cases, we can authorize individuals who want to travel independently, not part of any group, as long as these individuals comply with a full time schedule of activities that is approved by CMT. If you have any questions, just ask!
I just came back from leading a group of 12 health care professionals and several participants told us that this was one of the best weeks of their entire lives! That's because there is no pleasure in the world like helping people who need and deserve help- and doing this work in Cuba is really something special!
DO YOU LIKE OUR WORK AND WANT TO HELP?
Here are a few ideas:
1.) Good used clothing is free and very much needed. We are distributing clothing to specific populations so we can monitor and make sure that the clothing arrives where it is needed. Our target recipients include people who are HIV positive, people who live in homes for the elderly, and people who work in the hospitals and the policlinics. It costs about $3,000 to send about 20,000 pounds of clothing to Cuba; enough for 2,000 people. Everybody who works in the Cuban health care system is working for humanity, not for money, and every one of these workers, including the people who clean the floors, deserve a little recognition. With a $50 donation CMT can send clothing to nurses, hospital staff, elderly, or to people who are HIV+. Let us know the preferred recipient of your clothing donation!
2.) We're still collecting money for ambulances- $100 to send a set of tires, and a battery to revive a working ambulance. As promised, we'll send photos of every ambulance we repair!
3.) If you can afford to think big- $500 is enough to transport approximately $20,000 worth of medical supplies. $500 donors can select the location in Cuba where they would like to send the supplies.
4.) Almost every container CMT sends has a value of more than $100,000 in medical supplies- but the value in lives saved, or lives improved, is much higher. There are not many people who can afford to be $100,000 philanthropists, but if you happen to know somebody who has an extra $2,500, we can use that money to send $100,000 of donated medical supplies to Cuba. So if you or someone you know is blessed enough to be able to afford to donate an entire container, please contact Caribbean Medical Transport. We can talk about what type of supplies you would like to send, and where you would like it delivered.
As always, ALL money donated towards supplies goes to pay shipping costs. Any money for phone bills, travel to Cuba, salary (so far, never happened!))- we either get that from donors who give us specific permission to use some of their money for administration, or we pay our expenses out of pocket.
5.) Special request: Do you know of a supply of older laptops that we can deliver to polyclinics? Many polyclinics in Cuba - have no record keeping equipment other than pen and paper. Even an ancient computer is a BIG step forward.
6.) Do you have access to anything that is needed in Cuba? Let's work together! We can send up to seven pounds for a dollar- a lot more efficient than paying air overweight charges as individual travelers.
7.) Interested in Cuban Art? CMT is organizing a working committee that will use donated Cuban art to help fundraise the money to send more medical supplies. Contact us if you are interested.
8.) Currently CMT mailings reach 1,800 people. Do you know anybody who might be interested in hearing from us? Please encourage them to join us. Visit our website,
www.cubacaribe.com to add them to our mailing list! Many of you might have your own mailing list! Let's work together!
It is a tremendous pleasure for me to work on this project, and I'd like to share this pleasure with anyone who wants to help!
Sincerely, Marisha Kazeniac, Treasurer and Travel Coordinator, Caribbean Medical Transport