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A Cuban Boy and New Shoes

Diocesan Press Service. November 8, 1963 [XV-14]

A. Rees Hay, Chairman, Cuban Refugee Work, Fourth Province

Jose is a little Cuban boy, one of the thousands of Cuban refugees for whom the Episcopal Church offers a new beginning in a free land.

I hadn't intended to become involved with Jose and his family. They came to me one evening because they were desperate. In Cuba, Jose's father had been an executive in a sugar refinery. But like so many of our Cuban refugees, he speaks no English and is little equipped to find an adequate job in this country.

I was sorry, however, but for them there was nothing I could do. The little boy sat quietly holding our dog. I looked at him and realized that he had left his world behind in Cuba: his dog, the security of a home which provided for his needs and desires.

I asked, "What are your immediate needs?" The mother said, "My son needs a pair of shoes, he has only the wornout ones he is wearing. " The next day I took Jose to a shoe store. The clerk brought a pair of shoes, just the kind he wanted. Jose's eyes lighted up, but only for a moment -- the shoes didn't fit. The clerk was annoyed when I said, "We'll have to go to another store. If you were a little boy with only one pair of shoes, wouldn't it be important that they be just right?"

I was feeling pretty poor myself, having just that morning realized that my checking account was at rock bottom, but I couldn't help myself. When we finally found the pair of shoes Jose wanted, he walked proudly down the store and then turned and with arms swung open rushed to embrace me. "Gracias! Gracias!" he said.

If you could have felt his arms close around you and heard his voice, you would understand why those of us working with the Cuban refugees cannot help ourselves. We have to do everything in our power to provide for the needs of these unfortunate people.

Jose, and hundreds of Cuban children like him, turn with joyful expectancy to those who, in the name of Christ, open their arms to receive them. This you do every time you give to the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief - marked Cuban Work.