Knights visit Cuba to help those in need

By ROB HERBST
The Catholic Week
SPANISH FORT — Maria Mendez and two members of the Knights of Columbus pray they’ve “planted seeds” to aid a locale some might overlook.
Mendez led a group of about 20 from the Mobile area that included her husband, Jesús, and Alan Carrio to her native Cuba in October. Carrio and Jesús Mendez are members of Knights of Columbus, Fr. Ryan Council 2737 in Daphne. The KoC members raised $2,000 and delivered it to support the Sanctuary of St. Lazarus on the outskirts of Havana. Other members of the congregation brought bags of medical supplies not easily found on the island to the sanctuary.
Considering the relations between Communist-run Cuba and the United States, some may not initially consider providing support to those on the island nation only 90 miles from Florida. But Mendez hopes the experience the Knights and others had in Cuba will ultimately lead others to be interested in assisting those in Cuba.
“The key is planting seeds and they will see that Cuba is not this taboo place,” Maria Mendez said. “We planted the seed and hopefully others will follow and be interested to help.”
The Mendezes are members of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos Parish in Spanish Fort and Carrio is a member of Christ the King Parish in Daphne. Maria Mendez, now 71, came to the U.S. when she was nine. She is the former director of Latin American trade and development for the Alabama State Ports Authority and also co-authored a book discussing U.S.-Cuba relations titled “Cuba: It Matters.”
Mendez estimates she has made more than 20 humanitarian trips to Cuba since her first in 2004 and encouraged Knights to go with following her most recent trip in 2020.
Carrio jumped at the opportunity to make his first trip there.
“What I met there were very kind, very sweet people,” he said. “Everybody was very respectful. I didn’t get the feeling I was being watched or anything. I just felt like we were with normal, good people.”
“And I expected extreme poverty like I saw in other countries. Maybe there is, but I didn’t see it.”
Of course getting to Cuba is more challenging, but not impossible. Mendez holds a Cuban license to conduct such visits and is approved by the U.S. government. A travel agency assists with getting needed documentation for everyone. 
The group took a charter flight from Miami and once in Cuba, the government places someone in the group to transport members.
“The government is in control,” she said. 
Both made it clear they did not see it as overbearing, but there can be hiccups. 
For example, Mendez said one member of the group ordered a drink. But their credit cards would not work in Cuba. “I thought they were going to end up washing dishes.”
The Sanctuary of St. Lazarus was a primary stop for the group. According to Mendez, the sprawling facility is owned by the Cuban government which provides the facilities and doctors, but is operated by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. 
The nuns care for the mentally disabled, poor elderly and lepers on the campus that includes a hospital, dormitories, convent, church, cafeteria, other buildings and a garden. There are about 95 residents on the campus and less than 10 nuns, although they receive help from laypeople and clergy.
“I was amazed at the magnitude of this place,” Carrio said. “Picture a sprawling campus, a place bigger than McGill-Toolen (Catholic High School). Not one huge building, but all these buildings. Very beautiful, very old.”
The visit was also moving for Mendez, even though she had visited before. Two years ago she promised a patient with Down Syndrome that would return with aid.
“But nobody told me COVID-19 would hit,” Mendez said.
Still, Mendez kept her promise and the same patient was there to greet her.
“I started crying. I broke down,” she said. “She remembered. She came running immediately and gave me a big hug. It was so emotional.”
The group also saw the Catholic faith alive in Cuba. In fact, Dec. 17 is St. Lazarus Day in Cuba. He is revered in Cuba and thousands make a pilgrimage to the sanctuary.
“There is a yearning and hunger for the faith there,” Mendez said.
Ultimately, she hopes, animosities between the U.S. and Cuba will be reduced and that could be done with the help of a Christian philosophy.
“As Christians, we look at you as an equal, as a child of God,” she said. “If governments could do that, we would not have a lot of the animosities we have today.”
Whether that happens or not, Mendez will continue to help her native country and she now has more joining her cause.
“I have tremendous faith and God has been so good to my family. At the same time I feel it is important to give back and what better way to give back than to give to my homeland that is in need?”