A young Cuban woman identified as Sharlene posted an emotional video on Instagram of her first trip outside of Cuba to Spain, where she reunited with her father after three years of separation.
In the description of the reel, Sharlene summed up in one sentence what thousands of Cubans feel when they emigrate: "Today, I am not just leaving the country… I am leaving behind a version of myself."
It was her first time flying, and she did it alone. "For it to be my first time traveling and alone, I thought I would be much more nervous, but no, it was quite the opposite," she shared in the video.
The flight included a fuel stop before arriving in Madrid. During the overnight journey, Sharlene took the opportunity to eat and watch a horror movie, and at dawn, she was able to admire the landscape from the window for the first time.
Getting to Barajas Airport wasn't easy. "It was very difficult to find my dad because the airport is really big. But I found him, folks. Look at his happy face because we hadn't seen each other in a long time," he recounted with evident emotion.
After the reunion, father and daughter took a domestic flight to Mallorca, the young woman's final destination, where someone else was waiting for her with a surprise.
Sharlene closed her post with an invitation that encapsulates the spirit of her story: "This journey is not just a destination… it is a reconnection that I have been waiting for far too long. Follow me, for this journey is not just mine."
The painful separation of families over the years is a constant in Cuban emigration. Other Cubans have experienced heart-wrenching reunions after years of not seeing each other, and the reunification process can take a long time.
This trend of documenting emigration on social media connects with a broad diasporic community. A Cuban woman shared her last day on the island before moving to Spain in a video that also generated a significant response, just like another Cuban woman who celebrated her Spanish citizenship after years of effort.
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