Adventist Church makes history in Cuba with major health fair

Visitors get free health screenings during the Adventist Church’s  historic community impact in Santiago de Cuba last month. Images courtesy of Ray Frómeta.

March 17, 2015 | Santiago, Cuba | IAD Staff

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cuba made history with 2,000 young people donating blood, conducting health screenings, and distributing thousands of books at two of the communist island’s most revered sites.

Church organizers set up the different health stations for the fair at Plaza de La Revolucion in Santiago, Cuba, on Feb. 27, 2015.

Many of the young people traveled for hours and over hundreds of miles to reach the city of Santiago de Cuba and participate in the event on its Plaza de la Revolución, the site of major government demonstrations, and Abel Santamaría Park, where an armed uprising in the early 1950s helped kick-start the country’s revolution.

“This was such a historic accomplishment because it is the first time that something of this magnitude was held in a public and official way in such renowned venues,” said Ray Frómeta, youth ministries director for the East Cuba Conference, who co-organized the event.

Frómeta, a third-generation Adventist, said the event represented a big step for the church. His parents were not allowed to study because of their religious beliefs, and his grandparents were taken to court for not sending his mother to school.

One of hundreds who donated their blood during the event.

“God is doing wonderful things here,” he said. “It just shows that the Adventist young people in Cuba are living as history is born.”

Some limitations remain on the Adventist Church’s work, but doors are opening to spread the message of Jesus’ coming further in Cuba, church leaders said.

The Adventist Church operates a theological seminary in Cuba, and its 31,530 members worship in 323 churches and 144 companies.

The activities were part of the church’s Youth Convention, organized by the East Conference and East Mission regions, which mobilized young people in coordinated efforts with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) office in Cuba.

Adventist young people praying together during the three-day youth convention organized by the church in East Cuba.

Church leaders worked together with public health officials, and the Red Cross to hold the event late last month in Santiago de Cuba, the country’s biggest city after the capital, Havana, with a population of more than half a million.

Adventist medical students and Adventist health professionals set up health booths that focused on staying healthy through exercise, water, sunshine, fresh air, and other natural remedies. Free health screenings tested blood pressure, breathing, and blood-sugar levels.

Gustavo Frómeta, the province’s public health director and no relation to the youth ministries director, publicly thanked the church for the health outreach program. He said his office was ready to “undertake any joint program that benefits the community and contributes to raising the quality of life of our people.”

Leaders pray over the books before their distribution.

Medical staff from a nearby hospital also expressed gratitude to the church for the health services provided to the people of Santiago de Cuba.

Young people also handed out about 4,000 copies of the sharing book “Beyond Imagination” by John Templeton, Jerry Thomas and L. James Gibson.

The event attracted significant attention from passersby and the media.

“Many came by just to see what the commotion was about,” said Dayami Rodríguez, communication director for the church in Cuba. “Many local leaders and journalists covered the event.”