Wednesday, January 29, 2003
|
Wednesday, January 29, 2003 |
|
Local pastor finds Cubans long on faith, short on hope By JOHN
HATCHER
It's only a 30-minute flight from take off in Miami to touch-down in Havana. But for the Rev. Sam Calleiro that 30 minutes meant a world of difference as he left the high-tech world of south Florida to visit his home town that had an eerie feeling of being retrofitted to the fifties. Walking the streets on his return to Cuba after a 40 year absence Calleiro said, "It was nothing to see vintage, well-kept autos from the 1940s and 1950s a virtual gold mine of antique cars." Calleiro, his father, Abner, his brothers, Tony, Reuben and Joel, and Ron Book, church elder, made the journey as part of an effort to reconnect with fellow Christian workers in Cuba. Fidel Castro, Cuba's dictator, began opening the door for religious workers to come to his island nation about five years ago. Calleiro's team left Jan. 8 and returned Jan. 15. "It made an impact on my life and heart so much because it made it real to me that I had traveled to visit family and the church still under oppression; also, I saw my brothers and sisters in Christ who are faithful under that oppression," Calleiro said with obvious emotion. Calleiro visited a Baptist seminary where about 60 students study to prepare themselves to teach and preach the Gospel of Christ to the people of Cuba. He noted that the seminary has been strategically located overlooking the city of Havana. He said he was profoundly impressed with the dedication of the students at the seminary. Abner Calleiro, Sam Calleiro's father, fled with his family out of Cuba in 1963, rather than remain unsure about the future education of his children. Senior Calleiro did not want his children indoctrinated in the Communist propaganda. As he reflected on his personally epochal journey, Calleiro said, "I just wish I could impress upon the hearts of the Cubans the hope that they and we have in Christ. I saw very few smiles on the streets of the city. The Christians are filled with faith but with little hope. I want to impress upon them the hope about a better future day." "They know they are deprived, but they don't know how much they are deprived," Calleiro added. Asked if the trip was what he anticipated, Calleiro said it was "worse than I imagined." He mentioned there was a continuing, daily struggle for food and jobs. He said that a good job would pay as much as $15 a month. "They have to boil the water and the homes are gradually falling apart," he added. He said he observed, however, that under the socialist economic system there was a thriving capitalistic black market. His team took a tour of locations of special interest to the Calleiro family. Their former family house is now a cafeteria for workers on an orange grove. His grandmother's old house remains in the family and is occupied by his cousin, by a special arrangement with the government. According to Calleiro, however, the trip was not about family, but the Kingdom of God: "Pastors and ministers in Cuba want to make connection with us and we with them, establishing fellowship and hearing each other's teaching." Calleiro said he looks forward to returning on a regular basis. "The people are incredibly hungry for the Gospel. They are willing to listen and to change," he added. Calleiro is senior pastor of Perimeter South Community Church which now meets in the Lafayette Center for Continuing Education (the old Fayette County High School). For more information, call the church office, 770-716-2332. |
