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Medical Supplies for Cuba Campaign |
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Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC)
December 2020
Dear friends,
Thank you very much on behalf of the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC) for your steady, generous and thoughtful support for the campaigns we launched and administered for the benefit of Cuba during this passing year. Your material contributions were all accepted and gratefully appreciated in Cuba as acts of true solidarity.
Thankfully the strong hurricanes that roamed the Caribbean this summer spared Cuba from direct hits even in the late anxious months. (We remember that in 1954 Hurricane Hazel intruded as far north as to Toronto and made itself as brutally familiar here as it normally is in Cuba. It took a toll of 35 lives on Raymore Drive in Weston and 85 throughout Canada). Thankfully too, the hurricane season is over and now we can turn our focus to Cuba's wise and herculean effort against COVID-19.
Cuba's humanitarian wisdom shines again in the decision it made many months ago to produce and distribute its own sovereign vaccine for its fight in this new war. Cuban scientists with their impressive record of success at producing vaccines at the Carlos Finlay Institute by now are spurred on by the desperateness of the situation arising from the uncontrollable worldwide spread of the disease and the scramble of the rich countries of the world to corner the market for vaccines. This situation has led one African leader to ask, "Are the people of the rich countries willing to be content with this condition?"
Our Cuba is saying "No". Having started with the aim of producing one "sovereign" vaccine (Soberana 01) against the virus, Cuba is now on its way to producing four such vaccines (Soberana 01, Soberana 02, Mambisa and Abdala -), all of them with different characteristics, one of them, for example, aimed specifically at protecting children. Obviously, we want to help Cuba scientists maintain and strengthen its keen humanitarian focus on the anti-COVID-19 struggle.
But, of course, a truly humanitarian attitude can never be procrustean. Collateral needs always come into view. Right now, precisely, Cuban hospitals, in different parts of the country, are struggling to acquire some very urgently needed items (mainly due to the USA illegal blockade). The CNC has obtained a list of some of these items which we are attempting to source from supplies of medical equipment in the Toronto area. We will want to talk to other suppliers; and we are very open to suggestions from friends who are familiar with this field.
Conversations with one of these suppliers have led me to believe that a fundraising campaign--lasting for about three months, in order to garner some $50,000, to purchase as many as possible of these items and send them to Cuba by container--would be fitting
Keith Ellis, Coordinator,
Medical Supplies Fundraising Campaign, Canadian Network on Cuba
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How to Donate via cheque or e-transfer:
1) Make cheque payable to CNC and write on Memo line: medical supplies.
Mail to: CNC c/o Sharon Skup 56 Riverwood Terrace Bolton ON L7E 1S4
2) Send e-transfer to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Mention “medical supplies” in message.
IMPORTANT: and also send an email or phone (905.951.8499 a local call from Toronto) to Sharon
with the exact spelling of your secret password/answer and your name so she can then open your e-transfer. |