Walk planned in Kingston to thank Cuban medical workers

Michael Ennis, convenor of a planned walk from Duke Street to Heroes Park in Kingston on Tuesday to show gratitude and appreciation to the Cuban people for their 50 years of medical support to Jamaicans, says the move has resonated with many both locally and in the diaspora.

Ennis told The Gleaner yesterday that he has teamed up with other like-minded individuals to show gratitude to the Cuban medical team.

Following the recent announcement that the 50-year Cuban medical cooperation programme had come to an end in Jamaica, Ennis said he thought it would be fitting for Jamaicans to find an appropriate way to say thanks to the Cubans.

He said he knows many people who have benefited directly from the work of the Cuban medical team in Jamaica.

Noting that the generosity of the Cubans has touched him in a personal way, Ennis said his daughter benefited from a medical scholarship in Cuba.

“I know other people whose children have also received medical scholarships to Cuba,” he added.

He said staging protests with placards to show dissatisfaction with how the medical programme ended would not make a difference or change anything.

However, he said Jamaicans can “show appreciation to the Cuban people so that they can know that the Jamaican people appreciate their contribution and we thank them for it. That’s basically what this walk is all about.”

Ennis said that since word got out about the planned walk to show appreciation to the Cubans, there has been “tremendous” feedback from many quarters.

The convenor said news of the planned walk has been circulating widely since he shared the idea with two persons who placed the information in the public domain.

While unable to say how many people will show up for the event, Ennis said the idea has resonated with many Jamaicans both locally and in the diaspora.

He encouraged those who may not be able to participate in the walk to express their appreciation to the Cubans by making posts on social media or writing letters to the editor.

“You are sending the medical professionals back home to a situation where their countrymen are in dire need. We have to give them some hope that ‘this too shall pass’,” he said.

Ennis said no other country in the Western Hemisphere “knows what oppression is like, like the Cubans. They have been under [US] sanctions for more than 60 years, and they have survived and have helped others.”

He made it clear that the walk to show appreciation to the Cubans is non-partisan and is intended to allow ordinary Jamaicans to say thanks for the yeoman service provided by the country’s close neighbours.

The walk from Duke Street to National Heroes Circle is scheduled to take place between 9:00 a.m. and midday.

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