Part 1: SHARING SOME COLOR WITH BARACOA!

October 15-17, 2002
By Sali McIntire and Len Weeks, with help from the whole delegation.

A group of 7 enthusiastic St. Augustinians, a supporting member from Clearwater, and a couple from Colorado joined hands with Baracoan volunteers and parents of the children at the "Florecita de Cacao" Day Care Center in Baracoa, Cuba to put a clean new face on the interior walls of the three story masonry structure.

The St. Augustine-Baracoa Friendship Association has been going to Baracoa since May 2000, and has developed deep friendships with many of the citizens of this lovely town on the eastern coast of Cuba. The Day Care Center has been one of the Friendship Association's favorite projects and when the director of the Center presented the group with a request for assistance in painting the walls, we responded quickly.

Members of the Association held a very successful yard/porch sale of artwork, handicrafts, memorabilia, etc., along with the silent auction of a beautiful Baracoan painting that brought in enough money to purchase the necessary paint. Local St. Augustine paint stores contributed brushes, rollers and other supplies for the task. That was the easy part! When the intergenerational group arrived at the Day Care Center the first day, the painting project quickly became more complicated than we had anticipated. Finding paint was not difficult, but finding suitable colors was next to impossible. White was non-existent in the 3-4 stores in Baracoa which sell paint. The Day Care Center had procured paints in many varying shades of colors popular in Cuba, such as bright green, bright yellow, grey and crème, but not the more subtle colors they desired for the interior of the center. The quality of paint was good; however, it was not mixed and shaken by machine as it is here in our country.

Before we could start painting, we had to prepare the paints for application. Our painting delegation, headed up by local general contractor Len Weeks, had to open enough cans of paint for each different colored area. Using donated stir sticks, we had to hand stir gallons of the paste-like paint to mix the paint pigment and other solids in each can, strain it through a kitchen strainer to remove any lumps, and blend various colors together in six different three-gallon buckets to achieve the desired finish colors for the interior walls. After three hours of mixing, stirring and pouring from one bucket into another, we were ready to apply the paint to the walls.

The normal chaos of the presence of 200 pre-school children seemed pale compared to the initial confusion of the volunteer painters from St. Augustine and Baracoa - some more talented than others. The donated rollers, poles and paint trays that we brought were a big hit. The Cuban painters had never seen rollers before and were amazed at how quickly and efficiently they were able to apply the new paint to the existing paint-starved walls. Each day we spent at the center added to a very perceptible improvement. Soon the entire center started to take on a fresh new look and the director's face gradually looked less worried as she watched everyone work together to transform the center into a cleaner and brighter facility in which to teach the young children of Baracoa.

While some of the adults worked on getting paint on the walls, as well as all over their hair and clothes, the children in our delegation had organized a project to share with the Baracoan children. Kristy, Claudia, and Schaffer Weeks brought 225 small white tee-shirts, donated by Chris and Michelle Tasker, and numerous bottles of multi-colored dye to present a tie-dye workshop. With the help of delegation members Ann Jaffe, Jesse Regensburg, and Sali McIntire, the volunteers and teachers began the task of tying, banding and dipping the 225 tee-shirts into the dye. The rooftop terrace of the Day Care Center presented the perfect location for this messy, but fun, project. The staff of teachers and helpers were quick learners and added many creative touches to the process. One result of the tie-dye project was 40 unique and original red, white and blue tee-shirts, which will be proudly worn by the pre-school gym team. Another result, for all who participated in the tie-dye workshop, was that they had purple hands for the next few days! Many visitors and friends dropped by throughout the days to lend a hand with the painting and dying.

We left our friends from the "Florecita de Cacao" Day Care Center knowing that the painting project would be finished in the next few days and that tie-dye would be an integral part of their future art classes. As we started to say good-bye, they told us in Spanish, "not good-bye, but see you soon!" (no adiós, pero hasta luego). Some new paint, the making of some brightly colored wearable art, and a little good will goes a long way toward building lasting and meaningful friendships that transcend all barriers.

Part 2 - is being written :))