Ok, here we go! This is the bus that Pastors for Peace is sending to Cuba. Every year this organization buys a bus, decorates it, fills it with humanitarian aid and ships it off to Cuba. When I was a member at Christ Congregational Church, I first learned of this endeavor. At that time our link with Pastors for Peace was through Max and Maureen Hale who were both ministers through the United Church of Christ. I think that was about 4 years ago. At that time we collected medical supplies, eye glasses, durable medical supplies. But the first thing that has to happen is, you gotta' buy a bus!
This is Kris Allen and Scott MacGregor. Kris does the painting thing and generally keeps us informed as to the whereabouts of the bus on any given day. Scott is the driver, mechanic, and general roustabout. If the border crossing does not go well, Scott will be the one calling for bail money!
Now here is the interesting part about this particular bus. The bus was located at the Harrison School in Colorado Springs. Our group offered to buy it for $3,000.00 which was initially accepted. Then they got to thinking that if they took bids on it, they would probably get more money. To make a long story short, the bus was purchased for $2,510.00. No other bidders!! This was a savings of $490.00 so that was good for us, but not the school district.
This bus is dedicated to Antonio Guerreo, one of the Cuban Five. He is currently , and has been for over 12 years incarcerated in Florence, Colorado. That is about 30 miles from my house. Antonio is an artist and his work is copied on this bus.
This is the
plague that explains about the bus and that it is dedicated to Antonio. Can you imagine being sent to jail for wanting to protect your country? I can not seem to lay my hands on the pictures of the quotes on both sides of the bus, but I wrote them down. Both are by Martin Luther King, Jr. The first says, "El tiempo
es siempre derecho a hacer lo correcto." Loosely translated that says, "The time is always right to do what is right." The second side says, "En el centro de la no violencia este el principio de amo." Translated that means, "The center of non violence is the principal of love."
Now see this little sign here? This says Friends Beyond Borders. That should be fairly easy to understand. This bus has a lift so it will be given to a hospital when it arrives on the island of Cuba. Immediately upon the crews arrival in Cuba they will be whisked off to a graduation ceremony at the Medical School, where 14 students will receive their diplomas. Sounds good, huh? Now what would you think if I told you that their training was completely free and paid for by the Cuban Government? Bet it would really flip you out to know that these 14 students were American citizens, wouldn't it! Swear to God, every word of this is true. So can Cuba be all that bad?
In our country of plenty there are many homeless and a lot of them are children. Fidel Castro has often bragged that of the thousands of children sleeping on the streets at night, not a damn one of them is in Cuba!
There were a lot of boxes to load out of the shed at Christ Congregational Church into the bus. Being a lazy woman, I set and watched the muscle at work. The muscle consisted of Scott, Gary and David Bemis. I always enjoy that sight! There were several computers, durable medical equipment and Lord only knows what else. Did notice that Scott done shucked out of his shirt. Bear in mind that these people are headed for hot country!
Now, this is getting long so I am going to continue it tomorrow. I want you to know, I met some very nice people on this bus. I will introduce you to them tomorrow. Just know that these people must pay to do this and I think that costs about $3000.00. Then they are expected to work at all the stops, sleep on the floor, hope they get a shower some where, eat what ever is given to them and smile about it. These are two of the nicest people I have met so far and they are my new best friends!! I always try to ferret out the good hearted people and leave the rif raf alone.
So to my new best friends, Kathryn Hall-Trujillo of Albuquerque and Gary Erb of,( sorry I missed that!) I am going to put you on here tomorrow. While you are bouncing along in a dusty old bus, I will be picnicking in the mountains, but I will be thinking of you!
The bus left the parking lot at almost 10:00 AM. They were going to grab coffee and head to Santa Fe, New Mexico. So Santa Fe last night and then head off to Dallas, Texas this morning.
