HAVANA TIMES – He was my coworker at the Botanical Garden. He had just graduated in Biology from the University of Oriente, Santiago de Cuba. He told me that during his last vacation as a student, he visited the Valley, the recreational area where, among other places, the Garden is located. While waiting at the bus stop to return home, he noticed the small, well-maintained field full of plants behind the fence. With a hint of boredom, he thought to himself, “Wow, it must be boring to work there.”
He then told me that when he went to pick up his assignment at the Work Office, where they tell you where you’ll start your social service, he was surprised to see the name of the place he had just visited and had found so dull: the Botanical Garden. I laughed a lot at his story.
Now I find him on one of the streets near downtown, behind a cart selling fruits and vegetables. We greeted each other warmly, discovering that we are now working in places far removed from the kind and boring one we had come to love.
But my young biologist friend is not an isolated or unique case in the Cuban landscape regarding the fate of new professionals. He is an example of a more than notable social phenomenon. Due to the current extreme crisis in the country, it doesn’t seem to be disappearing but rather growing.
My cousin studied Economics in Holguín. She worked for a few years at the bank but then decided to sell items from her home. Her h