Graham Sowa’s Diary

During our recent week long school break I made the decision to travel. I’ve traveled frequently in the past. Even the complicated travel policies of being a student in Cuba are routine to me now. I was only traveling with a backpack, but the entire trip was weighed down by a sense of not belonging outside of Cuba.

Recently we have been receiving several visits a week from People-to-People exchange tours at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana, Cuba.

Medicine has finally monopolized all of my time and energy. In addition to the consuming course work from school here in Cuba I am also preparing to take the United States Medical licensing Exam (USMLE) this summer.

Representative Bachmann might be surprised to know that a solution to doctors pay already exists, and it exists far away from her version of a world where the Federal Government has no responsibility to provide for healthcare. It exists in Cuba.

Reporting on Cuba must be an agonizing task for those opposed to the rule of the Revolutionary Government. These voices, often originated in South Florida and echoing in the halls of the US Congress, routinely oppose travel to Cuba by Americans on the auspices that any money spent will support their antagonists.

The behemoth oil platform came into view from the Havana shoreline last week and I’m still trying to figure out what Cubans feel about its arrival.

Last week I was interviewed, in Cuba, for the first time by United States based media. Granted, my interviewers were students from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, but they came equipped like professionals: reporter pads, audio recorders, and a video camera.

I will be joining the multitudes that have paid about $400 USD for the 35 minute flight between Miami and Havana.

One benefit of Cuba’s very centralized bureaucracy is the prevalence of statistical data on just about anything at any level of government. This extends from the Federal level to the neighborhood Committee of the Defense of the Revolution.

After nearly two years in Cuba I’ve met a few people, mostly university educated, who have left to work outside the country or have short term plans to do so. This is the exact opposite of my decision to come here and sometimes make me feel as if I missed a very important memo.