In April, a group of volunteers from Maranatha Volunteers International served for ten days in Cuba. The team of 36 travelled from all over the United States to complete a couple of important projects in Havana. They started painting several buildings at the Cuba Adventist Theological Seminary, which Maranatha built from 1995 to 1997, and helped fix up a house Maranatha is transforming into a home church.
“We’ve wanted to get volunteers back in Cuba for a long time,” said Maranatha President Don Noble. “But because of the global pandemic and the nation’s economic challenges, projects just weren’t feasible. This trip was possible with extensive planning. Paint had to be shipped all the way from Panama–a complicated process. This project’s success gives us hope that trips like it can be more common in the future.”
Unfortunately, the seminary in Cuba is no longer self-sufficient. But generous Maranatha donors are helping to cover operational costs, like providing food for the campus. While Maranatha does not typically raise funds for projects outside of construction, for this unique situation, we are seeking donors to help us reach a goal of $10,000 per month to support the 100 students at this valuable Adventist institution.
“[The] seminary here in Cuba is the heartbeat of the Cuban Union,” said the school’s principal, Elvis Hernandez. “Many people are migrating from Cuba, among them many ministers and pastors. So if the seminary doesn’t exist … we are not producing more pastors. So … it [would] be making a huge negative impact [on] the development of the Church in Cuba.”
The volunteers who painted the seminary met a dire need, as the school does not have the resources to undertake this sort of maintenance. The team removed layers of old paint and grime before applying fresh coats. They didn’t finish all campus structures by project’s close but made great headway, painting the fronts of three building exteriors, the boys dorm interior, and cafeteria.
Another subgroup of volunteers did maintenance at a house church in a neighborhood called Casablanca. Jobs like painting and building churches from the ground up are complicated because of the need to ship all construction supplies to Cuba from other countries. But renovating existing structures, to serve as churches, requires fewer materials and is much faster. Casablanca is one of two homes in Havana that Maranatha has purchased for this purpose. They will accommodate worshippers who live too far from other Adventist churches, as well as serving as outreach centers for their communities. Volunteers made progress on the Casablanca property by adding a new perimeter fence, landscaping, and painting.
Daisy Mederos Rodriguez is the 65-year-old caretaker of the Casablanca house church who worked right alongside volunteers–often outpacing them all. With food from Maranatha containers, Rodriguez provides a meal for hungry neighborhood children every week and teaches them about Jesus. She also cooks and delivers food to those in need in her community. Her selflessness and loving care for others impacted the volunteer team deeply. “Seeing Daisy on fire–one can only come away with a renewed spirit of giving, of getting involved,” remarked a volunteer named Mervin Eva.
Maranatha has been active in Cuba since 1994, building or remodeling more than 200 Adventist churches and the Cuba Adventist Theological Seminary. But Cuba’s declining economy has prompted Maranatha to adjust efforts. Donors have funded ten shipping containers of construction materials and other vital supplies like food and medicine in response to island-wide shortages. In addition to house church renovations, Maranatha is constructing the Nuevitas Church building from scratch.