Author: Irina Echarry

Alexis, my friend for much more than a decade, is 36 and has always lived with his grandmother in her house. But his grandmother has a son (not Alexis’ father), who in turn has a wife and two children; in addition, his grandmother has a husband, Arcadio.

The first time I heard Janis Joplin, her voice came from a VEF 206 (the stereo system from Eastern Europe that was in many Cuban homes. I didn’t know who she was, but her sound remained etched in my memory.

This past August marked the twentieth year since the holding of the XI Pan-American Games in Cuba. The media featured special reports, documentaries and roundtables on the international event as we watched sequences of some of the competitions on our TV screens.

I was surprised to find that the bus — though full — had a nice atmosphere. The faces of the passengers reflected a kind of harmony, some even had smiles.

They arrived full of enthusiasm, with the security that comes from having a firm grasp of the work that one does daily. These seven men were ready to get rid of the leaks in our apartment building for once and for all.

Each of us has our morbid notions, but it’s curious, I’d never imagined myself without hands or lacking the ability to move them.

Violence has many faces, as do poor living conditions. If it’s in our hands to improve the present of those who surround us, why not act? It requires only a little effort on our part.

My medical care has been free and quick. Some medicines I’ve been able to buy easily at the pharmacy, but to acquire others I’ve had to turn to the black market.

For the time being there are only a few of us involved in this task. We hope more people will join in from anywhere. They can be national or foreigners. They only have to be in Havana (visiting or living here).

What disconcerted me greatly back then — in addition to learning about her suffering abundant menstrual flows — were my own monthly odysseys of finding sanitary pads in the 1990s.