CUBA:
Women Combating Shortage
of Decent Housing
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, J (IPS) - Juana
Hilda Naranjo no longer
worries when it rains.
For the last three years
she has been living in a
modern apartment out of
reach of the water and
wind, thanks to the
efforts of the Taller de
Transformación
(Transformation
Workshop) in the poor,
predominantly black
Havana neighbourhood of
Pogolotti.
"I used to have to put
out pots and pans when
it rained, because of
the leaks, and the house
would flood," Naranjo,
69, told IPS. In 1980
she had moved from the
interior to an area
called Isla del Polvo, a
marginal section of the
Havana district of
Marianao, where the
families of migrants
from other provinces
have lived for nearly a
century.
Official figures reflect
a housing shortage of
500,000 units in this
Caribbean island nation
of 11.2 million. But 15
percent of urban
dwellings and 38 percent
of rural housing units
are in poor condition,
according to the last
national census, carried
out in 2002.
In 1993, after the
so-called "storm of the
century", which damaged
or destroyed around
30,000 homes and caused
an estimated one billion
dollars in economic
losses, the Taller de
Transformación in
Pogolotti drew up a
project for building 25
houses for the residents
of Isla del Polvo.
But the project was
initially looked at with
scepticism by the
potential beneficiaries.
"Many local residents
did not want to take
part, because they
thought the project was
not really going to
bring results," said
Noemí Reyes, the social
worker who heads the
Taller. So a
construction brigade was
created, made up mainly
of women, who were
trained at the Instituto
Superior Politécnico
José Antonio Echeverría,
a vocational-technical
institute in the
capital.
An agreement was later
reached with local
institutions that had
experience in
construction, to provide
support for the
community in the
building process.
The initial plan was
expanded to 62 housing
units, which are one of
the main achievements of
the Taller, one of 20
set up by the Grupo de
Desarrollo Integral de
la Capital (Group for
the Integral Development
of the Capital - GDIC).
GDIC, an initiative of
the municipal
legislature, was created
to tackle social
problems generated by
poverty in different
parts of the city.
According to the United
Nations Development
Programme’s Human
Development Report 2006,
4.7 percent of the Cuban
population is living in
poverty.
During the severe
economic crisis of the
1990s, the neighbourhood
of Pogolotti, which was
founded in 1911,
suffered problems of
water shortages and
garbage collection, and
the authorities were
hard-pressed to cover
the needs of vulnerable
groups like poor single
women and elderly
persons.
With few resources, the
Taller de Transformación
set out to improve the
material, social and
cultural conditions in
the neighbourhood in
1990, a task that at the
time seemed like an
impossible dream.
"At first it was really
hard to break through to
the community," said
Reyes. "They told us
that a lot of people had
shown up with promises.
But we didn't promise
them anything, because
we had nothing to give
-- only an interest in
providing solutions to
difficult social cases."
Based on an assessment
of the problems and
needs carried out with
the participation of the
community, the Taller
designed a strategy that
focused on issues like
sanitation,
environmental education,
reforestation, urban
planning, prevention of
social problems, and
culture.
Because the Taller first
listened to the local
residents’ demands and
then fit the work to
their needs, the initial
mistrust quickly
disappeared. "When you
involve the community
from the very start, you
can get things done,"
said Reyes.
"Unfortunately, many
people were sitting in
their homes waiting for
the Poder Popular (the
local government) to
resolve their problems
and they weren't
participating," said
Reyes, 57. But that
passive stance was
transformed into
activity when efforts
got underway to bring
gas and public lighting
to the neighbourhood,
which people had been
anxiously awaiting.
Folk-dancing and other
cultural groups have
joined in the
reforestation efforts on
the banks of the Santoyo
River and the "sacred"
forest of Pogolotti, the
name given by local
followers of AfroCuban
religions to a former
garbage dump that is now
a wooded area.
So did the students of a
weaving course created
by 71-year-old Genoveva
Hechavarría, which today
represents an
alternative source of
income for a number of
families.
Pogolotti, which
contains three slum
areas, has a population
of 26,800 and covers a
total area of just over
five square kilometres.
Eighty percent of the
residents, most of whom
are black, are labourers.
The Taller, whose
members are all women,
mainly social workers,
also faced mistrust on
the part of local
organisations and
institutions, which
feared meddling in their
traditional areas of
activity.
But "actually the Taller
facilitates community
labour; we don't replace
any other institution,"
said Reyes.
The group is now heavily
relied on by the local
authorities, who they
advise and provide with
the results of their
ongoing studies. "We
have taught the
delegates (of the Poder
Popular) to listen,
because many of them
were not trained in
community work, and we
help them in their
administration," said
Reyes.
The Taller’s funding
comes from international
non-governmental
organisations like Oxfam
Canada, Norwegian
People’s Aid and Bread
for the World.
They have also received
support from the
non-governmental Martin
Luther King Jr. Memorial
Centre, an organisation
based in Pogolotti that
foments participative
development work based
on popular education.
The Taller’s team was
trained there in the
methods of community
work in a course on
popular education. The
Centre has also helped
mediate in the
implementation of
projects in conjunction
with international
organisations.
"We see this
relationship as a source
of strength, especially
because of the spiritual
support and training,"
said Reyes. "We show up
with any problem, and
they provide us with
guidance and solutions,
without any bureaucracy.
We feel they are a part
of us."
After 17 years of work
in Pogolotti, Reyes
believes that even after
the economic crisis is
finally totally overcome
and the four-decade U.S.
economic embargo against
Cuba is lifted -- the
biggest obstacle, she
said, for solving the
shortage of decent
housing -- new
difficulties will
continue to appear.
She said the most urgent
challenge is the
continuous flow of
people from the
provinces to the
capital. Migrants from
the provinces mainly end
up in precarious shacks
in Isla del Polvo, where
they basically scrape by
with the black market
sale of products at
stands lining the
pot-holed streets. This,
said Ruiz, is the
wake-up call to pay
attention to immediate
and future challenges. |
