By Jason Mcfarley. Tribune Staff Writer.
South Bend Tribune. July 3,
2001.
GOSHEN -- What began as a short visit to Cuba for Goshen College
administrators two years ago has now made possible a three-month study program
on the Caribbean island next summer.
College officials recently announced plans for a semester-long program in
Cuba. The 12-week curriculum will combine cultural education with a community
service component.
"We're always interested in new opportunities, especially in countries
that are in the middle of development," Wilbur Birky, director of
international education, said about the college's Study-Service Term program.
Birky was on a 10-day educational trip to Cuba in 1999 when he first
considered establishing a SST site in the Communist nation. Since 1968, the
school has required international study for graduation and has sent students to
such countries as China, Costa Rica, Germany and Poland.
"Going to Cuba is a natural extension of what we have right now,"
said Carlos Romero, vice president for student life and dean of students, noting
the college's broad-minded view on sending students into politically sensitive
climates.
Romero and his wife, Celina, will lead the initial class of 23
students in Cuba during summer 2002. The group will be part of the first
Christian-based semester-long program there that blends education with service
to the host society, college officials said.
Last year, the Romeros joined college officials on a follow-up trip to Cuba
to study the feasibility of a program there. He said administrators were sure
they wanted to set up a site but worried about the difficulties of implementing
a program in the Fidel Castro-governed country.
"It's only 90 miles from us (the United States), but we know so very
little about it," Romero said. "It's very different from us --
politically, economically, socially."
Establishing the Cuba program became a two-year process for several reasons,
Birky said.
College leaders had to seek approval from both the American and Cuban
governments for the project. Because of the long-standing trade embargo against
Cuba, the program required licensing through the U.S. Treasury Department.
Authorization of the venture came, too, from the Cuban Bureau of Religious
Affairs.
Finding a Cuban agency to sponsor the program also proved difficult.
"We needed groups to sponsor us for three months, but we were finding
that most organizations weren't sponsoring American groups for more than three
weeks," said Birky, who eventually found help with the Cuban Council of
Churches.
The May 1-July 31 program is divided into two phases.
Students will spend the first six weeks in Havana, the nation's capital,
Romero said, where they will concentrate on Spanish classes in the morning and
lectures on Cuban society and culture each afternoon.
The next half of the program takes place in Cardenas, the hometown of Elian
Gonzalez. There, Romero said students will participate in service projects such
as agricultural and ecological development and assisting seniors.
Program organizers said they are beginning the program with a lot of
excitement and a certain level of realistic caution. "I'm expecting we will
encounter people looking over our shoulders to see what we're up to," Birky
said.
Birky, who hopes to see it become an annual outing, said the college will
evaluate the program after next summer and determine whether it should be
continued.
"Your first time in Cuba is going to be an experiment," Birky
said. "From our standpoint, we're going in to learn -- not to propagandize
to Cubans or to form an alliance with Castro. To learn."
Staff writer Jason McFarley: jmcfarley@sbtinfo.com
(219) 235-6554 | 
