Salud!

I am in a Hip Hop as Poetry class. It's very eye-opening. We watch documentaries about some Hip Hop artists, some are about things like The Panama Canal, but last night we watched one called Salud.  I don't know Spanish, lol...so I asked my boyfriend who is fluent, what it meant after I watched the film, Salud means health, it's used like the word "cheers"--so kind of like a "cheers to your health" phrase. Anyways. After I've explained that, I should tell you that it's about doctors in Cuba, and the Cuban health system which is pretty epic considering their economic situation. Here's some Cuba Info from wikipedia if you're interested in some more information about their healthcare.

What also struck me, however, is the fact that Cuban doctors go into other, less fortunate countries and help the people there--mainly their fight is to protect the children because their mortality rates are so low. They feel as though (although they are poor) that there is always someone out there much worse. They are so self-sacrificing. One woman left her two doctors in Cuba and went to live in Africa (on 150 dollars a month), to help those in need. Her daughters understood that she was  helping children in Africa who would not survive otherwise without her.

I didn't know this about Cuba. I know that I could never become a doctor or a nurse and help others in less fortunate countries, but I feel as though books can open a whole other world for people, and for those in countries who can read, I want to some way establish a fund for that--I guess it would be for their education...to build schools. On doctor from a small, poor village (can't remember the name at the moment) only had a school in his village that went to the 6th grade, beyond that they had to travel miles for middle school. He said that less and less made it there, and less and less made it to University (only 2 our of his 40 classmates in 6th grade). And that's sad, because the opportunity really isn't even there because those who didn't make it to a  higher grade, had other responsibilities to their families.

Anyway. I wanted to share that with everyone. You should check out the documentary! I was excited to see it!