My Little Black Book

My Little Black Book

After six years of working with Aniplant, a Cuban organization that protects animals, I have developed an interesting address book of people who have their own links to Cuba. I get calls, here and there, from people who do interesting things in Cuba, sometimes for animals, sometimes for humanitarian projects, and some even for religious work in Cuba.

The first contact in my address book I found browsing on the Internet. I had had a friend, Margaret, who visited Cuba as part of an educational tour to Havana. This was before George Bush cut off such educational contacts. I have always been curious about Cuba, and I wanted to visit there, but Bush moved faster than I did, and tours like the one Margaret took were terminated by the US Government before I could arrange one. But my Internet browsing found Rick Schwag, President of Caribbean Medical Transport, an idiosyncratic lover of The Pearl of the Antilles.

Rick had a license from the US Government to affiliate with people and authorize their trips to Cuba for humanitarian purposes. Thus began our adventure helping Cuban animals. Rick still helps Cuba by sending shipping containers full of donated mattresses, bicycles, wheelchairs, medicines, etc.

Another important contact in my address book is Alex Vicente, my travel agent. Alex is a Cuban American, makes several trips a year from Miami to Havana, and his travel agency, ABC Charters of Miami, arranges charter flights on a regular schedule back and forth to Havana. Many people think travel to Cuba is illegal, but it's not--it's just complicated. Alex can help anyone going for the right reasons.

A woman named Darci Gallati who lives in Canada found her way into my address book. Her organization, Candi International, is a charity that helps people fly newly adopted animals out of the Caribbean to new homes in the north. That activity, too, is complicated, but they're good at it and have made many families more complete with loving adopted companion animals.

My address book is replete with names of veterinarians and vet techs who have traveled to Cuba and participated in Nora's traveling weekend sterilization campaigns--names like Sylvia McAllister, Scott and Paula Mather, Dr. Dick White, and others who have spread their skills far beyond the neighborhoods where they keep their offices.

I could go on for many pages, but you get the idea. This is not just a few animal lovers trying to do good things; it's a huge informal network of good people who have had the kindness to focus on Cuba and make a difference for the animals and people there.

Les Inglis