Dear Editor,
This is an open letter to Cuba’s President Raul Castro Ruz:
On behalf of my family, I would like to express my sincere condolence to you and the Cuban people as you mourn the passing of our beloved Comandante Fidel. I pray that God’s mercy and grace, which is always sufficient, will comfort and heal you all in the ensuing days ahead.
I would like to express profound gratitude to the Government and people of Cuba for a scholarship, in 1978, to study medicine in Cuba. I witnessed daily the sacrifices of the citizens of your great country, denying themselves innumerable material goods and services, to give tens of thousands of students the opportunity to pursue university and college programmes in your beautiful country.
I experienced repeatedly the love and generosity of countless families which opened the doors of their homes and shared their meals and warm hospitality.
That experience was a part of the culture shock which many of us experienced, having been told so many negative things about Comandante Fidel Castro while we were children growing up in Jamaica.
I was pleasantly surprised, upon arriving in the country, that I could take the bus and travel to anywhere I wanted to go at any time. During my seven years of living and studying in Cuba, I visited every province and the Isle of Youth. I always felt safe and was never stopped or harassed by a police officer.
In addition to my medical degree studies, I was given the opportunity to represent my university in track and field, represented the Jamaican students at civic ceremonies, and participated in voluntary work days — cutting sugar cane and picking coffee. All those experiences have helped to mould me into the person who I am today. I will always be indebted to Comandante Fidel and the Cuban people.
During our stay in Cuba, we forged friendships with people from every continent, since in our classrooms had students from several countries across the globe. This is an enduring legacy for contributing to the creation of peace worldwide.
The resilience of the Cuban people was tried, tested and proven indomitable during the chemical warfare attack on your livestock industry, causing you to slaughter and destroy all the pigs in your country. I saw, up close, the pain and suffering endured by hundreds of farmers and thousands of rural folk. During all of those struggles, Comandante Fidel was front and centre of your recovery efforts and triumphs.
I salute him for taking his people from the poverty and ignorance of the Batista regime to a revered country in today’s world, boasting some of the highest levels of literacy and health care. I salute the courageous leader Fidel who liberated Angola and defeated the South African army, which contributed to the dismantling of apartheid.
I salute Comandante Fidel for his genuine love and respect for the poor, notwithstanding his privileged upbringing.
Long live the ideals for which he fought and defended — peace, justice, respect, honesty, kindness, educational opportunities to the tertiary level, First-World health care, employment, care of the elderly and the physically and mentally challenged — and above all, he did it with love.
Comandante Fidel’s love for humanity is your enduring legacy which will continue to inspire millions worldwide.
Dr Donald Rhodd
Graduate, Superior Institute of Medical Sciences
Santiago de Cuba, 1985.
Former ember of Parliament & minister of state
donrhodd@gmail.com
This is an open letter to Cuba’s President Raul Castro Ruz:
On behalf of my family, I would like to express my sincere condolence to you and the Cuban people as you mourn the passing of our beloved Comandante Fidel. I pray that God’s mercy and grace, which is always sufficient, will comfort and heal you all in the ensuing days ahead.
I would like to express profound gratitude to the Government and people of Cuba for a scholarship, in 1978, to study medicine in Cuba. I witnessed daily the sacrifices of the citizens of your great country, denying themselves innumerable material goods and services, to give tens of thousands of students the opportunity to pursue university and college programmes in your beautiful country.
I experienced repeatedly the love and generosity of countless families which opened the doors of their homes and shared their meals and warm hospitality.
That experience was a part of the culture shock which many of us experienced, having been told so many negative things about Comandante Fidel Castro while we were children growing up in Jamaica.
I was pleasantly surprised, upon arriving in the country, that I could take the bus and travel to anywhere I wanted to go at any time. During my seven years of living and studying in Cuba, I visited every province and the Isle of Youth. I always felt safe and was never stopped or harassed by a police officer.
In addition to my medical degree studies, I was given the opportunity to represent my university in track and field, represented the Jamaican students at civic ceremonies, and participated in voluntary work days — cutting sugar cane and picking coffee. All those experiences have helped to mould me into the person who I am today. I will always be indebted to Comandante Fidel and the Cuban people.
During our stay in Cuba, we forged friendships with people from every continent, since in our classrooms had students from several countries across the globe. This is an enduring legacy for contributing to the creation of peace worldwide.
The resilience of the Cuban people was tried, tested and proven indomitable during the chemical warfare attack on your livestock industry, causing you to slaughter and destroy all the pigs in your country. I saw, up close, the pain and suffering endured by hundreds of farmers and thousands of rural folk. During all of those struggles, Comandante Fidel was front and centre of your recovery efforts and triumphs.
I salute him for taking his people from the poverty and ignorance of the Batista regime to a revered country in today’s world, boasting some of the highest levels of literacy and health care. I salute the courageous leader Fidel who liberated Angola and defeated the South African army, which contributed to the dismantling of apartheid.
I salute Comandante Fidel for his genuine love and respect for the poor, notwithstanding his privileged upbringing.
Long live the ideals for which he fought and defended — peace, justice, respect, honesty, kindness, educational opportunities to the tertiary level, First-World health care, employment, care of the elderly and the physically and mentally challenged — and above all, he did it with love.
Comandante Fidel’s love for humanity is your enduring legacy which will continue to inspire millions worldwide.
Dr Donald Rhodd
Graduate, Superior Institute of Medical Sciences
Santiago de Cuba, 1985.
Former ember of Parliament & minister of state
donrhodd@gmail.com
