You can browse
through letters and photos of travellers who have delivered
suitcases of medicine through NJTT. Click on photos
to enlarge the image size.
"Estimados amigos de esta forma le agradecemos su hermoso gesto y le comunicamos que en el dia de hoy hemos recibido en el Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos de la ciudad de Holguín, Cuba de la señora Margaretta Hedberg una donación de material medico que será entregado al hospital general Lenin para su utilización. Saludos solidarios" Hilda Maura Martínez Cruz. Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos
English
translation:
"Dear friends, We are
thankful for this beautiful gesture and would like to
tell you that today at the Cuban Institute for Friendship
Among the Peoples in
Holguín, Cuba we
received donated medicine from Margaretta Hedberg. We
will be sending this medicine for use at the Lenin
Hospital. Greetings of solidarity"
Hilda Maura
Martínez Cruz, Cuban
Institute for Friendship Among the Peoples
| "In February
2009, we decided to turn our winter getaway into a
little more of a life experience. After finding NJTT
on the Internet, we were provided with a suitcase
packed with basic medical supplies to deliver to a
small fishing village about 8 km from Santa Lucia,
Cuba. We took a cab from our resort to this village
which was devastated by the recent hurricane season.
Connecting with Not Just Tourists Toronto was a
great decision. We plan to return to Cuba again to
share this experience with our children." - Donna
Thomas and Rob Robertson |
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"Here are a few pictures from our very positive
experience delivering medical packs to the
hospital. We found a wonderful taxi driver,
Raul, to take us to Cardenas, about 27 km from
our hotel in Varadero. The drop-off went easily
and quickly and the supplies were gratefully
received. We were pleased that we had ventured
off the tourist path and had arrived in some
"real" Cuban territory. Thank you so much for
this opportunity. It was the highlight of our
trip to Cuba, for sure." - Meredith Hutchings
and Peter Smith (March 2009) |
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"In early May 2009, I went with Ben and Naddi Rondel
to the main hospital in Pilon, where we met with Dr.
Giobel; he is not only a great doctor, but handsome
and fluent in English.
We went one morning, and found him waiting for us;
the hospital has 185 beds and has no air
conditioning. It was about 90F/31C with no fans.
Nurses and doctors and staff were very interested in
the three bags we brought. One anesthesiologist
asked if we had brought any children's antibiotics,
to which I was pleased to answer in the affirmative,
as Dr. Barbara Erdelyi of Toronto had donated Biaxin
as well as Children's Tylenol.
It is always a highlight of a
trip to Cuba to visit a hospital or clinic
and donate medications. I encourage everyone I
meet to support Not Just Tourists. I would like to
add that we had no difficulty at all going through
customs at
Manzanillo airport, even after getting a
thorough sniffing of our luggage by the cute Spaniel
working as the drug dog."
- Barbara Thurston |
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"I
was able to drop off my aid suitcase to Dr. Gonzalez in
Varadero, Cuba earlier this week… and everything went
off without a hitch!! My friends and I had a chance to
visit with his parents (who are lovely), his two daughters
as well as the doctor himself… and it was awesome. Thank you so much for this opportunity – and
I will certainly spread word about the organization, and
will be in touch if ever I travel to Cuba again (which I
hope to do soon!)" –
Katie Baldwin
"We have recently returned
from a trip to Cuba and delivered 2 of your suitcases to the
a small clinic in Bahia Larga - southern Cuba about 70 km
west of Santiago. The clinic is a small rural one - no
telephone line - in case of an emergency the Dr. needs to
flag down a truck or car to take his patients to the
hospital in Chivirico. We have been friends of Dr. Ricardo
Suarez (doctor) and his wife Dr. Odolys Vargas (dentist) for
about 5 years. I was touched recently when the Dr. already
knew who would benefit from the supplies we took. A patient
was really in need of a back brace we had taken. I have been
passing out your brochures to friends and relatives who are
travelling to Cuba. I also have reassured them that we
haven't had any problems taking the suitcases into Cuba." -
Karen Weatherbe
"We arrived back Friday night after a week in absolute
paradise… I'm very pleased with how things went with the
NJTT bag, and am definitely hooked on taking a bag from NJTT
for all future trips… I contacted the Public Relations
person named Kenia at the hotel and asked for her help in
explaining the purpose of NJTT and finding a doctor for me.
After arrival, she introduced me to the house doctor,
Dr.Perez. At Dr. Perez's request, we took the bag to the
massage therapy room where he inspected each item, and Kenia
and I helped translate instructions on the bottle of
fluoride. He was very pleased when he saw the bag of
antibiotics, especially the Zithromax, "for the sickest
children." The nurses were so grateful that someone
would bring medicine for their hospital, that they insisted
on giving me a free massage!! I kept explaining that I was
just the courier, but they were very gracious to me
nonetheless. For the rest of the week, everyone on staff
seemed to know we had brought a bag of meds, and greeted us
very kindly. I had lots of chance to practice my Spanish,
and on the last day, one of the nurses came out to the bus
to say goodbye and to thank us again for bringing medicine…”
– Patricia Bellaire
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