Havana photo by Juan Suarez

By Irina Pino

HAVANA TIMES – I often wonder how we can physically and mentally endure the life we are living in Cuba today. Uncertainty surrounds us, and mistrust weighs us down.

Imagine what this must mean for someone who is mentally ill, wandering through the neighborhood talking to and arguing with someone invisible. Of course, in their condition, they are unaware of what is happening around them.

That brings me to the story of a young man who lost his mother a few months ago. She was his only source of support, and since her death he has been left completely adrift. He spends his days wandering around the neighborhood. He is still alive thanks only to the kindness of neighbors who feed him out of compassion. When night falls, they take him back to his apartment and put him to bed. A young woman on the block cleans his home, while others who know him stop by from time to time to help him bathe.

Some time ago, a doctor at our neighborhood clinic tried to have him admitted to a psychiatric institution, but no one ever came to pick him up. I don’t even know whether psychiatric institutions still exist in this country, much less whether they are actually functioning.

I remember one day when I was visiting a friend here in Playa Municipality. From her balcony I saw a man lying in the middle of the street while cars and motorcycles swerved around him to avoid running him over. He was neither poorly dressed nor dirty, and that detail caught my attention. I imagine he was not aware of the danger he was in.

Nearby there is a bus stop, and some people were laughing at what they thought was his suicide attempt. A young woman almost shouted, “You’re doing the right thing by killing yourself because you have no future here.”

Only one elderly woman approached him to speak with him, but he paid her no attention. He remained lying there as if he were in bed.

In the end, three men passing by had to carry him out of the street. He simply walked away as though nothing had happened.

Read more of Irina Pino’s diary here at Havana Times.