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The official newsletter of the CCLA

I.S.S.N. 1911-0693 Nov. 29, 2012 Issue 061

The

Envoy

Yudith is coming!!

Yudith is coming!!

Our CCLAAmbassador, Dania Yudith Surez Abreu, from Universidad de Ciego de Avila is going to be in Ontario with Kim and me for a week. I have organized two speaking engagements for her. One as a feature speaker at an IFPOR event in Toronto at Casa Maiz 1280 Finch Ave. West, December, 7th, 7pm. The other event is a CCLA event in Kingston at the Indigo Bookstore, 259 Princess Street, 6:50pm. See the two e-posters attached at the end of this newsletter. We hope to see you there. MSc. Dania Yudith Surez Abreu - Yudith, or Judy as I call her, is the President of the Canadian Studies Center from the University of Ciego de Avila, Cuba. Profesora de Ingls y Francs, Departamento de Lenguas, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humansticas, Universidad de Ciego de Avila, Cuba.

The Gentle Breeze of Progress News from both CBC and even CNN have told us that the Cuban government has eased restrictions to Cubans that wish to travel. Apparently now, the official invitation letter is not needed for Cubans to travel outside of Cuba though professionals such as professors and scientists still need an authorization by the minister and can only leave for a maximum of two months. This means that those that are not listed as professionals or that work for the ministry of health or other government categories do not need any authorization any more. One step is one step. Inch by inch there is change. A friend says that The ship stuck on the sand has started to move my friend, it is moving slowly, but moving it is. The too gentle breeze of progress felt by the Cuban people is presumed to be wisdom in action, fear by the Cuban government that the breeze of progress turn into the hurricane of destruction if not fanned gently. Progress is progress, I see it everywhere I turn in Cuba from vendor to vendor selling freely on the streets, the entrepreneurial spirit is growing with government blessings. This step of allowing Cubans to travel without the previous holdbacks of a cumbersome letter of invitation is proof of welcome progress that the ship is slowly working its way from the sand and is listing its way forward.

Envoy, I found the tribute issue to Raymond Souster to be a very touching and informative piece on a poet with whom I had very little previous content. Until receiving the Envoy his was just a name from the olden days. How wrong I was as his poetry will live long in my soul. Nice Work! Warm regards, David Doyle
The thanks must go to James Deahl, not just for his content on Raymond Souster but for his commitment to and love of poetry. Thanks James. Page 2

Is there a saying that old news is better than no news!


Dear CCLA members, thank heavens our Cuban CCLA friends survived Hurricane Sandi. Here is an email from our CCLA VP, Manuel, about the hurricane. The hurricane struck on Wednesday night last week. Against forecasts, it had been gaining momentum after passing by Jamaica. Jamaican mountains did not weaken it, as expected. It reached Santiago de Cuba as a hurricane 3, in the scale of 5. The old colonial city was severely damaged, much of it was flattened. Then, it went across the rest of eastern Cuba, right over Bayamo and Holgun (the path we did on our bicycles, remember?) In the easternmost region (Sagua de Tnamo, Mayar), towns and country were flooded. Everywhere, the strong winds downed trees, blew roofs off, flattened and devastated plantations. Losses in the coffee, sugar cane, plantain, rice and fruit fields are incalculable. Here, in Holgun, we were without power for 24 hours; Santiago and most other eastern provinces are still in black out. We live in the Caribbean; the charming combination of sun and sea may turn into maelstrom and whirlwind. [two days later] We are fine. My cave is a bunker, no damage. All around, especially in Santiago, Guantnamo and the east of Holgun there is lots of destruction. Fields, leveled, house roofs blown off, and so on. Hard for all, especially because of the delicate situation with food stuffs. We will overcome, sure. A hug, Manuel [Manuel Velzquez Len our CCLA VP]

Ah, the Hurricane affected the roof, of my house, the antenna for my TV, and all the garden was destroyed. Now I have to work a lot because the roof over some of the rooms and some other parts of the house was damaged. Now I have to replace many ceramic tiles and do other repairs but the family is fine, thanks to God. Hugs Jorge [Jorge Albarto Peeraz Hernandez, our CCLA Ambassador in Gibara]

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Dearest Brother, Thank you for your email of concern. The house had no damage and the family is fine but the neighbourhood is devastating. Pray for us and all of my neighbours and if I dont write with news it is because I am not coming to work because there is no electricity. As soon as I come here I will write you. Everybody is healthy here, thank the divine. Have all my heart M.E. [Maria Elena Alvarez Lpez our CCLA Ambassador in Santiago de Cuba]

CCLA members write a poem about survival and send it to me hurricane or otherwise. Survival is the Cuban way of life.

CROSS HILL On May 3, 1790, Friar Antonio Alegria climbed the hill overlooking Holgun with a large wooden cross on his shoulders and planted it there to guard the Franciscan settlement below. Much later a stone stairway of 458 steps was built on that hill, and in 1955 the original cross was replaced by the one that stands there now. In the past, penitents would climb those stairs, some of them on their knees. Today those stairs are the most visible landmark in Holgun and the hill is a popular viewpoint, not only to climbers but also to tourists who come there by the busload along a new road from behind the hill. This year when I climbed it was cloudy with a hint of rain, and even though it was Sunday there werent many climbers, only me and behind me a group of young people accompanied by their teacher. Since I was moving slowly, stopping on landings to rest and take photographs, they caught up with me. I had been taking pictures of them as they were approaching me, now I took more. Some were shy and hard to get in front of the camera, while others took every opportunity to do so. Then one of the girls came to me and said, I am Wendy. Good heavens! I hadnt recognized her. Wencys daughter. I had been to dinner in their house three days ago. She had recited poems she had written in school. But I had only seen what I had expected to see, and I would never have expected that in this alien Page 4

city of a third of a million people, coming up this particular set of stairs at exactly the same time as I was, would be one of the very few people I knew in Cuba. But the world is a small place. Two weeks earlier I had found a used books store near where I lived. The proprietor Gustavo spoke perfect English, so we spent almost an hour talking. His wife brought us coffee. I told him about my favorite books and asked him if he, since he was a man of letters, had met my best friend in Cuba, Manuel Velzquez Len, professor of English literature in the Pedagogical University. He is one of my closest friends, Gustavo told me. We graduated together. There were no tourists on the top of the hill but there was one lone musician standing on the highest platform, playing guitar and singing all to himself. After the young people had left, I went to him and we talked. He told me that he loved to play old Spanish songs, and I told him that my favorite of those was Malaguea salerosa. He sang it to me with a soft, pleasing voice. A Cuban couple wandered over, and he sang the last two verses as a serenade to the lady. Then we shook hands and I slipped a convertible peso, a Cuban dollar, into his, but he didnt want to take it. He said that he was a Christian and played only because he wanted to, and money wasnt important to him. I said that I was pretty poor myself, living on a small pension, but he was poorer than me and should accept the coin, and eventually he did. John Hamley

MY 75TH BIRTHDAY Somebody is having a birthday this Thursday, and you are invited to come along with us. The usual suspects Chiqui, Carmen, and Miriam were up to something. To whom had I carelessly revealed the date? In the end everybody in the city knew. Carmen, who is a radio announcer and has her own music show, announced it on the radio. The party was held in my house. Chiqui cooked all daythe
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birthday cake had already been delivered the previous evening and cleaned. And cleaned. It seems to me that everything in Cuba gets washed every day, including the sidewalks in front of the houses. The first guest Miriam arrived at 5 p.m., dragging two big gym bags. At 11 p.m. a motorcycle taxi would come and drive her to the bus station for an all-night bus ride to Havana, where she would join a visiting group of writers from the Canada Cuba Literary Alliance. Miriam gave me my birthday present, a necktie and two handkerchiefs. I put the tie on. Soon the other guests came, including the singers Bertha, Bestar, and Chino because he looks Chinese, all of whom I knew from their performances in Holgun and Gibara. They sang, and we played disco CDs, and we ate, and we drank. Carmens daughter had Bestars son for company. I gave her a delayed Valentines Day present. Toward the end Carmen enticed me to the dance floor, my first time in more than ten years, and at the very end Bestar, who in his other life is a psychologist, beat everybody in chess who dared to oppose him. John Hamley

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SYNCHRONICITY IN CUBA A quiet Canadian I sit and write in welcome shade sheltered from loud tourists by fluttering palms and a variety of tropical species unknown to me. I dream of sharing my memories more specifically my Cuban memories. I dream of finding a publisher who would be enthusiastic about printing my writings in Canada and also in Cuba. Enraptured in my dream I become aware of a group at the next table also doing some writing. A writer's group perhaps and they sound Canadian . . . Swallowing my shyness I introduce myself and, from this point on synchronicity unfolds. I find, not just any Writer's Group a Canadian Writer's Group with the Canada Cuba Literary Association.
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I find friends. I find publishers in Canada, and in Cuba. Synchronicity has manifested my dreams.
Heide Brown May 14, 2012

BIO OF HEIDE BROWN


I am a third generation descendent of John Brown, yes, the John Brown of the song John Brown's Body. I started my life in a tipi, on TPBar Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. When I was 3, in 1950, my family emigrated to Kitseukla, a homestead in central B.C., Canada. After 3 years, my family continued their restless searching, a semi-nomadic life, living briefly in Cloverdale, Vancouver, Texada Island, and finally 7 years in Telegraph Creek --- an Indian Village of 200 Tahltans on the Stikine River in Northern B.C. That is, until Fidel phoned my Father on the RCMP radio-phone and invited him to come to Cuba to re-organize the philosophy department of the University of Havana. I was 16. We gave away the rest of our family heirlooms and moved to La Havana. Instantly delighted with the Cuban people and the ideals of the Revolution, I finished High School at Tarara, started Medical School in Nuevo Vedado, and

married a Cuban soldier. Life was perfect. Then I became ill. In the end I had to move, sadly, back to Canada. That was in 1965. I have revisited Cuba 3 times since then to reconnect with my Cuban family 10 years ago, 4 years ago, and this winter, when I serendipitously bumped into Tai and Kim and the CCLA [at Hotel Tropicoco]. I currently live with my Quebecois husband Raymond and our charming beagle Buddy on Gabriola, a small island on the West Coast of B.C., dividing my time between writing, painting, travelling, and participating in community projects.
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> The Canadian Network on Cuba launches its > "Sandy Relief Fund" Campaign
> > At 1:25 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 25th, Hurricane Sandy entered Cuba just > west of Santiago de Cuba as a category 2 hurricane. However the extent > and speed of Sandy gave it a destructive capability as great as any of the > category 5 hurricanes. Its central path took it rapidly through the > provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holgun and Guantnamo, the former two > provinces being the most populous in Cuba after the City of Havana. > > The hurricane devastated the heroic city of Santiago de Cuba, destroying > houses, damaging public buildings and monuments, leaving the city without > water supply, electricity, shops, markets and trees. Despite massive > evacuations, it took a toll of some 11 human lives, an unusually high > number in Cuba for hurricanes (mainly by collapsing buildings) ? 132,733 > houses were affected with 15,322 totally destroyed and 43,426 losing > roofs. Massive damage, not yet fully calculated, was caused in Guantnamo > and Holgun before the hurricane left this province near Banes, precisely > where hurricane Ike had entered four years earlier. > > President Ral Castro, visiting Santiago de Cuba on Sunday, Oct. 28, said > that only urgent temporary measures can be taken and that the recovery of > Santiago would take years. > > The emergency measures are well underway. Roads to healthcare centres and > other essential services were speedily cleared. Linemen have been > arriving from seven provinces to work together with local ones to restore > electricity and telephone services. Roofing materials are arriving from > neighbouring provinces such as Las Tunas. Temporary systems have been set > up to provide 85% of the affected population with drinking water, and > food supplies have been arriving from throughout Cuba to Santiago and > other severely affected parts of eastern Cuba. Cultural activity has not > been overlooked, with some cultural centres being promptly and reopened, > with artists from different parts of the country to join local artists in > lifting the spirits of the people. > > Good friends of Cuba have also been prompt to supply assistance. > Venezuela, for example, has given 650 tons of help including > non-perishable food, drinking water and heavy machinery to Cuba, with some > going to Haiti. However, the need remains great. Cuba continues to give > its help to Haiti, which, although not directly hit by Sandy, suffered > much destruction from flooding, with scores of lives lost. > > Cuban provinces as far east as Villa Clara and Cienfuegos suffered from > high winds and flooding due to heavy rainfall. > > Canadians have responded generously in the past to disasters affecting > Cuba and other Caribbean countries suffering from natural disasters. With > great gratitude we recall that from coast to coast they responded to > requests from the Canadian Network on Cuba, the umbrella group > representing friendship organizations with Cuba. We forwarded to Cuba > after 2008, when the country was ravaged by three hurricanes, more than > $404,000.00cad.

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> > When on January 12, 2010, Haiti suffered the horrific earthquake, the CNC, > recognizing that the most effective way of helping Haiti was by doing so > through Cuba, mounted its TO CUBA FOR HAITI Campaign, which so far has > collected and sent to the Cuban Medical Brigade in Haiti $453,728.12 cad. > > Cuba needs substantial help, both immediate and long term, in order to > overcome the crisis brought on by hurricane Sandy. Cuba?s Ministry of > External Commerce (MINCEX) is establishing an account to receive the > financial contributions. As in all our previous fundraising efforts, > every single penny donated will go to Cuba. Charitable tax receipts will > be provided. > > Our experience with regard to Cuba's response to natural disasters is that > it knows how to multiply the value of any donations it receives. We feel > confident, based on the island's unsurpassed humanitarian work both within > Cuba and in other countries, that it has the skills, the organization and > the ethical and moral values to put whatever aid it receives to the best > possible use. > > The CNC urges everyone who can afford to do so to support this effort by > giving a donation: > 1) payable to your local Friendship organization and please also write > "CNC Sandy Relief Fund" on your cheque's memo line. They will forward > the info/money for tax receipts to the Mackenzie-Papineau MF. > 2) payable to the ?Mackenzie-Papineau Memorial Fund? and mail to the > Mackenzie-Papineau Memorial Fund, Att: Sharon Skup 56 Riverwood > Terrace Bolton, ON L7E 1S4 > Please also write "CNC Sandy Relief Fund" on your cheque's memo line. > Charitable receipts will be issued by the Mackenzie-Papineau Memorial Fund > in 4-8weeks (Charitable Org - Revenue Canada Reg, #88876 9197R0001). There > will be no administrative charges, not even for postage stamps or anything > else. > > Keith Ellis, Coordinator, CNC Sandy Relief Fund (905 822 1972; > zellis@yorku.ca) > Isaac Saney, CNC Co-Chair and National Spokesperson > Elizabeth Hill, CNC Co-Chair and Treasurer

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REPORT OF ACTIVITIES The Canadian Studies Center of the University Mximo Gmez Bez from Ciego de Avila (CECANUCA) celebrated its VI SEMINAR ON CANADIAN STUDIES Canada facing the challenges of the 21st century on October 17th and 18th, 2012, with key lectures, sessions, presentation of papers and other activities to expand understanding about Canada in the province of Ciego de Avila, and contribute to strengthen academic, cultural, social, economic and diplomatic relations between Cuba and Canada.

The members of CECANUCA, two Canadian academics from the Universities of Carleton and Toronto-Mississauga (Carlo Fanelli and Emmanuel Nikiema) respectively, as well as professors and students from the University of Ciego de Avila (UNICA) participated in the seminar.

They all found the seminar and activities very interesting. We also had a special intervention by the Second Secretary of the Canadian Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Ms. Hanna Wajda.

The two Key Lectures given by the Canadian academics were: Remaking Canada: from affluence to austerity, by professor Carlo Fanelli from Carleton University and A look at Quebec as a distinct society in Canada by professor Emmanuel Nikiema, from the University of Toronto Mississauga. Fifteen papers were presented by professors and students on diverse topics included in the following panels: Language & Culture, Identity & Native Studies, Economy & Sports, Society & Multiculturalism.

There was also a presentation of the Canada-Cuba Literary Alliance (CCLA), to share with the participants the mission and objectives of the CCLA; the book Sweet Cuba was presented as well as several issues of the CCLA newsletter The Envoy.

After that, there was a small official ceremony of inauguration of the Canadian Studies Centers Library, named after Margaret Atwood, where all students and professors can find Canadian books on different areas such as: Politics, Canadian study, Literature, Novels, Poems, etc.

The treasure of the North


by Daylan Hernndez Daz (5th year student of English Language)

Canada is the mother that protects us She offers the best of her soul Representing Peace, Values and Union.

There is no contrast in the people It is the same culture and religion with only one God What makes the difference is the strange Mixture that makes people special.

The beautiful view of the landscapes Are the inmortal evidence of how wise is nature It chooses the perfect place to create the most impressive wonders of the earth.

Canada is music, poetry and inspiration Once our hearts meet this land They remain there forever.

A talk on

CUBA
The Canada Cuba Literary Alliance presents Feature Speaker

Dania Yudith Surez Abreu


Monday, December 3rd 6:50pm
Where:
Indigo Bookstore, upstairs 259 Princess Street Kingston, Ontario

6:50 pm Meet, Mix and Mingle 7:15 pm CCLA President Richard (Tai) Grove will talk about the CCLA Canada Cuba Literary Alliance 7:30 pm Evelyn Gervan, Chair of the CCFA Kingston Branch will talk about the CCFA Canadian Cuban Friendship Association, their past and future projects 7:45 pm Intermission 8:00 pm Feature Speaker Dania Yudith Surez Abreu Canadian Studies Centres in Cuba Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Ciego de Avila, Cuba will make a presentation and discussion on the topic of: The Influence of the English Language in the Socio-Economic and Political Development of Contemporary Cuba. 8:45 pm - Event closes (store closes at 9pm)
Special thanks to Bruce Kauffman, CCLA member, for organizing the venue. Also THANK YOU to Indigo for letting us use their space and muchas gracias toYudith!!

MSc. Dania Yudith Surez AbreuYudith is the President of the Canadian Studies Center from the University of Ciego de Avila, Cuba. Profesora de Ingls y Francs, Departamento de Lenguas, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humansticas, Universidad de Ciego de Avila, Cuba.

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