On sending stamp stuff...

I thought I'd post tonight in response to a question of why I was sending the stamps. One of the churches we are connected to actually requested them, as they had been borrowing the supplies I had sent down to Lenia, the "pastora" of the church we were originally connected with, and due to a transfer to another church some distance away, it was very inconvenient to keep borrowing stamp supplies, and the pads were now dry.

They told us they were using them for "murales," probably meaning "posters," for church events, and/or seminarios, which are training sessions for pastoring. Bible schools are illegal, but they are allowed a certain number of days per ______ (I can't remember exactly how it works), but they pull it into long weekends, I think, and people come from all over the Island, walking/hitching if there is no money (I remember one student took three days to get there), riding coches (horse driven buses/cabs), catching rides with someone fortunate to have a car (vintage 50's style).

When I first brought stamp supplies down, it was just for Lenia's, or the church ladies' pleasure; I imagine finding any kind of craft is a challenge, so I was fairly confident someone would enjoy them! It's also practical: they cannot easily find stationery in the stores (frankly, one finds precious little of anything in the stores - lots of bare shelves); letters are usually written on cheap, lined paper. Lenia has made bookmarks for all the women of the church, and I believe they've made cards together. I imagine they've found use for them with children's ministries as well.

Birthdays are a huge deal in C uba, so I imagine that happy birthday posters & cards will be made with the stamps. And of course, cards would be a great gift to give someone.

Could they be used for income? While having your own business is more or less illegal, it's possible someone could sell a few cards here and there, but I doubt they will have done so, they'll have focused on ministry.

I look forward to maybe learning more when my husband returns....

This was a card made for an earlier trip, when I made enough cards so that each woman at the ladies' meeting I spoke at could have one to send a note of encouragement to another sister in the church. Because of the huge number I was making, they were all fairly simple; since I did not have time to make totally new cards for this trip, I just embellished the half dozen I had left. I hoped this could be shown to Mayelin (the pastora receiving the bulk of supplies this trip) as a sample on how to use the buttons I sent down. However, I forgot to tell my husband to show her. :-/