Yesterday, it rained and it poured, so my friends and I had to cancel an outdoor event we'd been planning. It was the third in a series of Interactive Art and Fashion shows intended to raise money for the Cuban Friends' Fund, which help facilitate my humanitarian work in the Marea del Portillo and Pilón area. We have one more such fundraiser scheduled for this summer, on Sept. 17, and it WILL be a sunny day. (I am repeating that like a mantra!)
So far, we haven't raised much money, but we've been having fun and raising awareness about the considerable challenges of life in rural Cuba. As the emcee, I try to throw in a few stories about people I've met and things I've observed during my visits to this historic and relatively isolated part of the Granma province. For yesterday's show, I had the ingredients for a nice little speech floating around in my head. Since I missed the opportunity to spew them forth to an assembled crowd, I decided to use them as the basis for this post.
I was going to tell people about someone I initially thought of as "Random Cuban Dude." I now know him as Leony, a friend I have not yet met. I wrote about his supportiveness and our developing friendship in a previous post (Aug. 19) but I didn't really talk about my hesitation to accept his invitation to be Facebook friends.
When he virtually extended his hand in friendship, I did not immediately accept it. I was skeptical of his motive. So, I checked out his profile. He's wearing shades and muscle shirts in every picture, as well as a gold chain – telltale signs of dudism, in my experience! I reviewed his information. He lives in Varadero. That's a long way from Marea del Portillo. He likes hiphop and José Feliciano. Hmmm....
Why would this hip young dude want to be my friend? Around that time, I had been warned by a friend with more Cuban experience than I have that I should be careful because some Latinos will try to prey on the sympathy and kindness of Canadian tourists. Did I look like an easy mark? Maybe. We appeared to have a total of two friends in common, both employed at Club Amigo Marea del Portillo, but from what I read on his home page, I couldn't discern that he had any affiliation with the resort.
The invitation seemed rather random and opportunistic. Still, I took that proverbial leap of faith and accepted anyway! As my husband pointed out, if Random Cuban Dude became a pest, I could just block his posts or unfriend him.
I was quite curious about why he wanted to be my friend, so I immediately sent him a message asking just that. He replied that my face looked familiar – he had worked as a diver at the resort a few years ago – and he signed off with "xox." Uh-oh! A yellow caution light began blinking in my brain. Kisses and a hug were more friendly than I'd expected for a first chat!
Before long, our chats progressed to more heart-filled topics, as my Aug. 19 posts indicates. My new online acquaintance soon shifted from being Random Cuban Dude to becoming my friend Leony. It will be nice to meet him, eventually, and to see his eyes.
Back in Canada on this rainy weekend, I've been pondering other randomness in relation to my Cuba projects. We've been hosting the Interactive Art and Fashion shows at Huntsville's Alberto Salon and Spa, owned by my friend John, who was sort of Random Hairdresser Dude when I met him at a party several years ago. New to town, he and his wife were friends of friends, so I began supporting his business. It seemed like a friendly thing to do.
We always have great salon-chair chats and have discovered an unanticipated commonality of interests and perspectives on the community. Earlier this year, we were brainstorming about jointly hosting art/fashion/music events as fundraising endeavors. His lovely salon would be the setting and my store – reVIBE! – would provide the clothing. We were discussing what charities we might want to support and, to my surprise, John insisted we devote all the shows to my Cuban projects. Wow! (That is becoming one of my favorite words.) Random friends rock!
I want to quickly add that my not-so-random friends also rock, and have been like rocks in their support for me and my work to help and empower a Cuban community I have fallen madly in love with...after a random visit a few years ago. Randomness can have incredibly beautiful results, don't you think?
My life has changed quite dramatically in the last two years and, when I review it all, much of what has happened could be seen as randomness. More and more, though, I am seeing a wonderful pattern. The random pieces are fitting together to create a detailed, delightful picture, and I'm lovin' it. The key, I think, is being open and willing to accept the apparent randomness, and then enjoy the ride!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Internet friendship and support: the Wow! factor
I am rearranging and changing my life to help people in Cuba, and it is changing me. I'm learning to look at the mountaintop and climb, to not worry about potential obstacles and to just keep moving forward along the unfolding path. I never know what's around the next bend but I'm eager to see.
So far in this unexpected journey, the light has been brighter, the scenery more beautiful and the people more wonderful than I ever imagined. My life has already been enriched in many ways and I've been blessed by many new friendships and offers of support for the projects I have begun – and I've only just begun, to paraphrase a scrap of a song that will likely float around in my brain for the rest of the day.
One recent, pleasant surprise has been a new friend by the name of Leony. I'm not sure I ever met him but he invited me to be his Facebook friend because I looked vaguely familiar. He worked briefly at Club Amigo Marea del Portillo a few years ago and thought he had seen me there. I was sceptical and hesitated to accept his friendship but curiosity got the best of me, as it often does. (Perhaps I was a cat in another life!)
At first, we "chatted" occasionally about the weather and such mundane things. He struggled to write in my language but his English is better than my Spanish, so we communicated as well as we could. Time lapsed.
This summer has been extraordinarily busy for me, so I have developed a blitzkrieg style of Facebooking...zooming in and reading what I can, "liking" things that catch my eye, haphazardly updating my status and commenting on friends' posts but interacting only through the message function. Since I have not had my green light on, signaling I was available to chat, Leony sent me messages instead. I responded in kind and, gradually, we've become better acquainted.
When I told him I worked part-time at a shelter for abused women, his reply surprised and impressed me. Here is an excerpt: "...violence is a worldwide phenomenon that affects a lot to the women, above all, so I think, because women do not always find the courage to denounce their perpetrators and then suffer double violence, beatings they receive and the silence in a kind of psychological violence...." Wow!
When I suggested he read this blog, he promptly checked it out and responded. This is part of what he said: "...you're doing great by Pilon, I'm really excited, really you're a Cuban heart, as you aptly titled [your] blog...You, like me, [are] in the group who believe that a better world is possible. How good [that] you are undertaking a work of infinite love...I congratulate you for that...I was born there and still feel great love for my homeland...." He went on to offer his support for me and my endeavors.
I responded with a lot of wows and exclamation marks, explaining that I was blown away by his kind words. He then said this: "...I'm just an honest man who says what he thinks and feels. I also feel honored that you accepted my friendship on FB...what is essential is invisible to the eye, [so] we must look with the heart...Thank you in advance for considering me your friend."
One day, we will meet. He no longer lives in Pilón, next door to Marea del Portillo; he lives and works in Varadero, many hours away. I have no plans to visit there, since my focus is on the southern foot of the island. But, the way my journey up the mountainn is progressing, I'm sure our physical paths will cross when the time is right. For now, the virtual intersection is interesting and uplifting!
Life is like a bowl of jelly beans that I'm eating one at a time. I keep getting new flavors I never imagined, and I'm savoring each one.
Dig in!
So far in this unexpected journey, the light has been brighter, the scenery more beautiful and the people more wonderful than I ever imagined. My life has already been enriched in many ways and I've been blessed by many new friendships and offers of support for the projects I have begun – and I've only just begun, to paraphrase a scrap of a song that will likely float around in my brain for the rest of the day.
One recent, pleasant surprise has been a new friend by the name of Leony. I'm not sure I ever met him but he invited me to be his Facebook friend because I looked vaguely familiar. He worked briefly at Club Amigo Marea del Portillo a few years ago and thought he had seen me there. I was sceptical and hesitated to accept his friendship but curiosity got the best of me, as it often does. (Perhaps I was a cat in another life!)
At first, we "chatted" occasionally about the weather and such mundane things. He struggled to write in my language but his English is better than my Spanish, so we communicated as well as we could. Time lapsed.
This summer has been extraordinarily busy for me, so I have developed a blitzkrieg style of Facebooking...zooming in and reading what I can, "liking" things that catch my eye, haphazardly updating my status and commenting on friends' posts but interacting only through the message function. Since I have not had my green light on, signaling I was available to chat, Leony sent me messages instead. I responded in kind and, gradually, we've become better acquainted.
When I told him I worked part-time at a shelter for abused women, his reply surprised and impressed me. Here is an excerpt: "...violence is a worldwide phenomenon that affects a lot to the women, above all, so I think, because women do not always find the courage to denounce their perpetrators and then suffer double violence, beatings they receive and the silence in a kind of psychological violence...." Wow!
When I suggested he read this blog, he promptly checked it out and responded. This is part of what he said: "...you're doing great by Pilon, I'm really excited, really you're a Cuban heart, as you aptly titled [your] blog...You, like me, [are] in the group who believe that a better world is possible. How good [that] you are undertaking a work of infinite love...I congratulate you for that...I was born there and still feel great love for my homeland...." He went on to offer his support for me and my endeavors.
I responded with a lot of wows and exclamation marks, explaining that I was blown away by his kind words. He then said this: "...I'm just an honest man who says what he thinks and feels. I also feel honored that you accepted my friendship on FB...what is essential is invisible to the eye, [so] we must look with the heart...Thank you in advance for considering me your friend."
One day, we will meet. He no longer lives in Pilón, next door to Marea del Portillo; he lives and works in Varadero, many hours away. I have no plans to visit there, since my focus is on the southern foot of the island. But, the way my journey up the mountainn is progressing, I'm sure our physical paths will cross when the time is right. For now, the virtual intersection is interesting and uplifting!
Life is like a bowl of jelly beans that I'm eating one at a time. I keep getting new flavors I never imagined, and I'm savoring each one.
Dig in!
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