A priest teaches rural communities in Santiago to generate income by recycling cans during times of crisis.

In the midst of the deep economic crisis facing Cuba, Catholic priest Leandro NaunHung, from Santiago de Cuba, has found a creative way to help his community generate additional income: recycling aluminum cans.

Through social media, NaunHung shared a video in which he encourages residents of rural areas to collect empty beer cans and other products as a way to support both the parish and their own families.

"The streets are full of beer cans. Even if there's no money to eat, there's money to drink," commented the priest, who has created a system for collecting and selling cans in order to raise funds for small community needs, such as snacks.

“Selling those cans can also contribute to having snacks and those things. It's a little, but it's help,” she pointed out.

NaunHung emphasized that no one is too poor to contribute and highlighted that the initiative aims to promote collective awareness about collaboration and self-sufficiency.

The priest explained that the cans collected by the members of his community are crushed, stored, and then sold, an effort that, although small, helps to cover basic needs in a context where money is scarce and food prices continue to rise.

Additionally, in his video, NaunHung emphasized the need for people to fight for resources, at a time when the regime is increasingly satisfying less the distribution of regulated products in the basic basket, and highlighted the importance of community action in times of crisis.

Through his social media, the Cuban priest Leandro NaunHung exposes the hidden reality of the rural communities in Santiago de Cuba, as well as the problems that most affect this population.

Recently, the priest shared the story of a mother who uses purslane leaves.

NaunHung posted a video on YouTube showing a mother preparing what he called a "survival recipe."

In recent days, the priest distributed bread during a Sunday mass in a rural area of Santiago de Cuba, highlighting this gesture as a way of sharing joy and resisting the harsh reality faced by Cubans.

NaunHung, in a video posted on Facebook, expressed a message of hope and solidarity while distributing bread in a rural area of Santiago de Cuba: “We bring you a gift, we bring you bread,” said the priest, emphasizing that, in the midst of the crisis affecting so many families, sharing food is a way to bring joy.

"Now that the bread comes so small, and whether it comes or doesn't come, or will come one day due to so much crisis," he added, underscoring that celebrating Mass is a reason for joy and strengthening of faith, especially in times of great hardship, like the current one, when people tend to turn to religion.