A video shared on social media shows the gratitude of neighbors from the Limpio Chiquito community in the municipality of Cacocum, Holguín province, after receiving assistance from the solidarity project Huellas, a citizen initiative that provides food, clothing, and other basic items to families in vulnerable situations.
“We continue to be grateful for what you do for us. It’s because of your help; we have nothing, we have no electricity, we have nothing,” says one of the beneficiaries during the exchange with the volunteers.
Another neighbor explains that the assistance provides immediate relief for the families in the area: “We feel relieved to have something to eat, to wear,” she emphasized.
The recording showcases one of the recent actions of the Huellas project, an initiative driven by activists who organize donation collection campaigns inside and outside of Cuba to deliver food, clothing, and other resources directly to communities affected by poverty.
According to the promoters of the initiative, in places like Limpio Chiquito, the community itself participates in the distribution of aid.
The neighbors organize donations among families in need and also try to include especially vulnerable individuals, such as elderly people living alone or those facing long lines to collect insufficient pensions.
The situation in that locality reflects the precarious conditions faced by many areas of the country.
According to testimonies gathered by the activists themselves, the residents of Limpio Chiquito have been without electricity for about four months and must cook with wood or charcoal, in an environment characterized by mud, mosquitoes, and a shortage of basic resources.
In that context, children, the elderly, and sick individuals are surviving in conditions that volunteers have described as extreme poverty.
Similar stories are repeated in different parts of the island. In that same community, an elderly man living alone received food, money, and other donations from the Huellas project.
The man explained that he survives on a state pension of 1,519 Cuban pesos and relies on family support to meet basic needs.
Cases like this reflect the deterioration of the pension system amid inflation and shortages.
In many Cuban households, retirees rely on the support of family members, remittances, or solidarity initiatives to feed themselves or acquire essential products.
In light of this situation, citizen projects like Huellas aim to provide timely relief to communities affected by the economic crisis, although for many Cubans, these initiatives have become the only support network in the face of deteriorating living conditions on the island.
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