I cover my eyes and nod my head, I am ashamed of you western world!

On my latest Cuban tour someone had the brilliant idea to gather a bit of money to contribute with goods for the poorest families in Baracoa. It was with a sincere desire to help and an open heart that the idea was accepted and everyone contributed to it.

Once asked what could be a good item to buy, our guide suggested cooking oil, which is an expensive supply and generally doesn't last the whole month if the family depends exclusively on the rations provided by the government.

Money in hand we bought twenty bottles of oil and distributed them while driving through the area of Barracoa. The decision where and when to stop was entirely up to the driver and guide, we stopped mainly in front of the poorest houses and in front of residents talking on the street. 

Every person who received a bottle showed appreciation for the gift, some got emotional, others looked rather confused.

The delivery of bottles quickly shifted from an act of goodwill to a circus. Reclined on my seat, I take a sneaky picture, trying not to be noticed by the old man that looks incredibly surprised by the sudden stop of the tour bus and the consequent delivery of a bottle of golden liquid. ‘Make it quick and fuss free this time’, I whisper, but no, once again, half a bus descends with their cameras and tourist eyes. They make people pose for their cameras holding the bottles of oil. 

Bottom line was when the guide approached a woman washing clothes in the river and handed her his shirt in exchange for the bottle of oil that he had placed on the rocks just beside her. Puzzled, the woman took it and was going to wash the shirt but he stopped her saying that he was joking.

I cover my eyes and nod my head, I am ashamed of you western ego!

Is it right to make fun of poverty????? A bottle of oil is not going to change their lives. A bottle of oil certainly doesn't entitle us to flash people with our fancy big cameras while they pose, reticence and shyly for the tourists (and guide), that suddenly think they are gods and so have the right to invade people's privacy in one click that immortalises that moment that should have been subtle and egoless.

The 'white' man syndrome is still very much alive these days, it is shameful how we think we can rate ourselves from  the amount  of goods we own or can have access to. I saw 'richer' people in Cuba than I see around me, I saw people who value and respect each other more than money could ever buy!