Service trip to Havana, Cuba

Service / Work Trip to Cuba (March 29 to April 6, 2012)

I'm Dwight Parker and I am part of a team that will be going to help complete service projects, (mostly construction) in Havana, Cuba and some in the surrounding area.  The trip is organized through United Methodist Volunteers in Mission, and I previously served on a team that helped repair flood damage in Santa Cruz del Norte, Cuba.  Here's the catch! My life took a dramatic unforeseen turn when I resigned from my job as a special education teachers (which I have done successfully for more than a decade)after being abused and harassed by a supervisor. After I made complaints to human resources, all I received was a shrug. As if that wasn't enough, she has since embarked on a character assasination campaign.  Not sure why she would continue to attack me, but even now I remain unemployed despite sending out dozens of applications, and going on many interviews. My life savings is nearly gone and we've had to severely cut back while I continue to the job search. This has been brutal on my wife and three children.

My intention was to give up on the trip, but I kept getting this gut feeling that my particular skills were vital to the team, as most have never been on an international service trip before, and my Spanish is probably the closest to fluent. My wife is encouraging me as well, so I'm giving this a try. The team have raised nearly $6000 to buy tools and other needed supplies, but now I have to raise the funds for my individual part of the trip, which will be just short of $2000, to cover air fare, baggage fees (we're taking lots of stuff with us), and our room and board with our gracious Cuban brothers and sisters. Here are some pictures and links of my last trip there and a weblink to the UMVIM Cuba website.

 Tengo mucha gratitud a todo el apoyo que pueda conseguir y enviar imágenes a cualquier persona que dona.

Any amount is appreciated and I will send everyone who donates at least $5 a photo album of the work project and our progress while we are there, just include an email for me to send.

Not sure if it applies on here but it's technically tax deductible since we are travelling on religious visas. I'll check.

 imecu.org

UMVIM Cuba Program Information Page

That's me in the purple shirt.