A group of young Cuban women cooked and went out to distribute food to those in need on the streets of Santiago de Cuba, in a solidarity initiative that was recorded in a video posted on TikTok on April 28th by the user @magguie_dvn.
"Today we are cooking something more, something that cannot be seen but can be felt," says the young woman in the recording, explaining that the decision to take action came from looking around and thinking about those who do not have a plate of food.
"That's why we decided to do this, not because we have a lot, but because we understood that even with a little, we can give," he states in the video, which lasts one minute and 21 seconds.
The young women described the experience as an exchange that left them with more than they gave: "Today we went out to provide food. But in the end, we received much more. Smiles. Genuine looks. Real gratitude."
The action takes place in the context of a humanitarian crisis that is hitting Santiago de Cuba particularly hard, where there have been reports of fainting due to hunger and people picking food from the ground, along with a noticeable increase in beggars, elderly individuals, and people with mental illnesses on the streets.
According to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, 89% of the Cuban population lives in extreme poverty, and seven out of ten Cubans forgo at least one meal a day due to a lack of food or money, a figure that rises to eight out of ten among those over 61 years old.
An independent report published in 2025 indicates that one in four Cubans goes to bed without dinner, with 96.91% of the population affected by the loss of access to food due to the accumulated inflation, which has exceeded 500% since 2021.
The initiative of these young women from Santiago adds to a chain of charitable gestures by Cubans on social media in the absence of effective state responses.
This month, other young Cubans cooked chicken with salad and distributed it to people experiencing homelessness, in a video that also circulated on TikTok.
In April 2025, a young mother from Matanzas distributed spaghetti, sausages, and rice with corn to elderly people on the streets, with videos garnering over half a million views, while in February of that year a young Cuban YouTuber traveled through areas of Havana delivering food, clothing, and basic supplies to vulnerable individuals.
Even Sandro Castro, grandson of Fidel Castro, joined this trend in April 2026 with a campaign to distribute food and medicine in parks in Havana, stating this Monday: "Let them know they have us."
Magguie closed her video with a call for solidarity to multiply: "I hope this doesn't end with just a video. I hope it becomes a chain, an impulse. Something that arises in more people. Because when we give from the heart, it always reaches where it needs to go. And it always comes back multiplied."
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