THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 25, 1995 TAG: 9506210074
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
JOAN SMITH had watched news coverage of Guantanamo Bay. Seen the camps where the Cuban and Haitian refugees were living. And heard about the uncertainty that seems to be a constant theme there, as the refugees waited and hoped to be admitted to the United States.
But it wasn't enough for the 39-year-old Virginia Beach woman to see and hear the news from the comfort of her living room.
So last month Smith traveled to Cuba, where the American military base is located, for a firsthand look. She walked from one camp to another in scorching heat to instruct refugees about breastfeeding and childbirth, topics Smith specializes in teaching.
Smith, an ODU graduate student in nursing, returned home in late May with a clearer sense of what's going on in Guantanamo Bay, a new appreciation for the Cuban and Haitian people, and the satisfaction that she helped refugees awaiting an uncertain future.
She did it as much for her own education as theirs.
``It's just a part of who I am,'' said Smith, who has also taught Mexican immigrants and teenage mothers. ``I needed to know what it was really like. I had to go down and find out for myself.''
Last October, she started calling agencies to see if she could find a way to visit the camps. The people at World Relief, a Christian non-profit organization, said they could use her help. The group provides relief and development services to displaced people all over the world.
Eight months later Smith got word the time had come, and May 16 she flew into Guantanamo Bay to begin her work in the refugee camps. She assumed all of her own expenses, and also donated supplies of movies, posters and books.
First, she gave instruction to people who would become ``prenatal monitors.'' These Cuban and Haitian professionals who would teach pregnant women over the long haul, after Smith was gone. Many of the monitors were nurses and medical students.
Then Smith visited the camps herself, hiking along roads where iguanas peeked out of the brush and where military trucks kicked up a continual cloud of dust. Once at the camps, she met people who were eager to learn. ``The women were very excited, very receptive. They had lots of questions,'' she said.
Cuban and Haitian women are more likely to breastfeed than their American counterparts, and more likely to have witnessed an at-home birth, but they still soaked in the information Smith offered.
She felt it especially important to impress upon them the benefits of breastfeeding, because many immigrants to the United States turn to bottle feeding, because they view it as ``more American.''
``I told them they were already doing what was best for their children,'' Smith said.
The women also liked Smith's encouragement for their partners to get involved in the birth process. ``The Cuban woman is often by herself during birth,'' Smith said. ``They want the partners more involved.''
After eight days in Guantanamo, Smith left with a real love of the people she had met and a fuller understanding of what was going on.
``You feel the uncertainty, you can sense it.''
The Cubans were more optimistic than the Haitians, since President Clinton had assured them passage to the United States. Still, they wait and worry as policy after policy is hammered out.
Although Smith was happy to return to her husband and three children last week, she still thinks about the people she left behind.
``I already miss them,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff
``It's just a part of who I am,'' says Joan Smith, who has also
taught Mexican immigrant and teen-age mothers.
by CNB