Two Limerick teenagers are part of a global convoy delivering humanitarian aid to Cuba

TWO TEENAGERS who live in Rathkeale are part of an international convoy of around 700 people bringing humanitarian aid to Cuba. 

Suzel and Babette Gonzalez Blodau are 17-years-old and 15-years-old and they are working in solidarity with groups from all over the world in response to the US blockade of supply chains.  

They both attend Coláiste Chiaráin in Croom. Suzel is in fifth year and Babette is doing her Junior Certificate. 

They have family in Cuba and have been travelling there almost every year, aside from when travel was restricted during the Covid pandemic. 

Suzel said that there are cultural differences between home in Limerick and life in Cuba, but some things are the same. 

“My cousins, they still go to school and go out and play sports and my auntie, she still goes to work - it's very busy here, the Cubans are very knowledgeable  about what is going on.”

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However, she added: “There are scarcities in different places in terms of medicine, but there are still people doing Tai Chi in the park, or people meeting for lunch and market stalls with vegetables for sale on the street.”

While in Havana, Suzel has attended the Cuban parliament. She has interviewed people who are standing against the US blockade such as Jeremy Corbyn, Chris Smalls and Naoise from KneeCap who performed a concert in Cuba.

They have attended events about LGBTQ+ rights, daycare facilities and centres for children with special needs.   

In terms of the US blockade, Suzel said: “You can see it has had a big impact, but people are getting on with life. People are friendly.”

Suzel is also running a green project, which people in Rathkeale have helped her to fundraise for, to promote a circular economy in a daycare centre. 

Monthly donations would allow her to pay a local farmer to supply the daycare centre with a fresh vegetable box every week. 

“We brought some supplies with us - different medicines, syringes, supplements, wound dressings, headlamps, solar charging lamps so they can see when there is a power outage, and things that could be useful, like nail scissors, hair clips, pens and pencils, glasses, feeding bibs, and blood pressure monitors” Suzel said.