Cuba: A Book of Dreams

The first in a short series of articles and stories on Cuba

It’s the capacity to dream that makes us human. We are all born with a little spark, the small kindling of a dream that we nurture as we grow. Sometimes the flame subsides and sometimes the flame thrives.

Dreams are at the core of us as human beings. Our existing world is the result of many many people’s dreams.

There is no better way to connect with another person than to exchange dreams. To build dreams together. To help one another achieve them.

But there is often this sense of separation between ourselves and those around us, especially those in other countries of different cultures who lead different lives. It sometimes becomes difficult to put ourselves in their heads, to see what they dream. But no matter what all our differences are, dreams are our common factor.

People experiencing war, hunger, disease, terror, poverty, and other challenges, have dreams too. That’s what travel can teach us. Empathy. Humanity.

In Havana last week, I spent a day by myself in the city before my family arrived. It was then when I was eating crepes at a restaurant that I had an epiphany. A Dreams Notebook. Not for my dreams, but for strangers’s dreams. So we can get to know what one another desires in this life and dream it together.

The Dreams Notebook came to life immediately. Coincidentally, the restaurant had an adjacent gift shop which sold handmade notebooks. I bought one on the spot, took out a pen, and wrote a title on the first page:

EL CUADERNO DE SUEÑOS (The Notebook of Dreams)

Then I handed it to the waitress, Dani, whom I asked to write down her biggest dream inside its pages.

Then for the next four days, I asked every waiter or barista I met, to write down their biggest dream. Here are a few:

“To become a ballerina and travel the world. To live healthy and happy with my family” -Dani

“To own many businesses and provide for my family.” -Carlos

“To open a restaurant.” -Vicente

“My biggest dream which I am working toward is to become a surgeon and see many beautiful places on this planet.” -Elizabeth

These are the people of Cuba. These are the dreamers. These are the people with big hopes and aspirations for their lives.

It’s sometimes easy for us to not think about other’s dreams, especially when there are circumstances of struggle. But the dreams are there, they do exist.

For example, in Cuba, it is not easy to open a business because technically private businesses cannot exist. But this young bartender has a dream for that to become a possibility.

Or the barista who said her biggest dream is to become a surgeon and she’s already moving in that direction. Sure she faces obstacles of a shortage of medicine in Cuba and strict laws for doctors who must stay in Cuba, but she is in pursuit of that dream.

All those dreams sound achievable. All those dreams are dreams many people around the world have in common. They are dreams we can wish for them to achieve. They are dreams maybe we can even help them achieve.

We must not lose our ability to dream, because our dreams build our present and build our future.

Who knows if the simple question of asking someone what their biggest dream is can instill in them? Maybe it’s what re-ignites the little dream spark that is inside them.

The fact that a stranger wants to know their biggest dream, could mean so much. The act of taking a few seconds in the middle of a busy shift, to put mind to pen to paper.

Writing down a dream is powerful. Writing down a dream in a notebook filled with other people’s dreams is magic.

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As our little group made up of my family and friends gathered at the gate at the Jose Marti airport getting ready to leave Havana, I took out the notebook. We got into a huddle and I read out loud all the dreams people had written down. We all smiled and put all our energy into wishing them the very best in becoming reality.

The Cuaderno de Sueños or Notebook of Dreams teaches us that despite the obstacles we all face, despite the challenges, despite the differences, we all deserve a chance to dream. We all deserve a life with the choice to pursue those dreams. We all deserve a chance to listen to other’s dreams and to help one another fulfill those dreams.

Every person should have the possibility of pursuing a dream. It doesn’t mean fulfilling it, it just means the POSSIBILITY of pursuing it. The Dreams Notebook goes out to everyone who has ever had that possibility taken away. We must continue to dream and help others awaken their dreams and keep the possibility of dreams alive.