Dispatches
from Havana –
(On-the-spot news from Susana Hurlich, the Spanky Project’s coordinator in Cuba)
(On-the-spot news from Susana Hurlich, the Spanky Project’s coordinator in Cuba)
The
Spanky Project, with the help of its many supporters, continues to provide
assistance to the educational workshops for children carried out by Quinta de
los Molinos.
Coming
under the Historian’s Office of the City of Havana, Quinta – as it’s frequently
called – is a centre that since 2006 has been committed to environmental
education mainly for children and the community. The aim is simple yet essential:
to instil the values of love, care and protection of nature, both flora and
fauna.
Occupying
some 4.8 hectares in the middle of the city and touching three different
municipalities (Cerro, Plaza and Centro Havana), Quinta has a story that goes
back to Havana’s colonial days. Today it is replete with trees (some 1,100
representing 175 species) and plants – and even some animals - that are endemic
to Cuba.
Every
week, some twenty workshops on a wide range of themes relating to nature take
place for primary school students, elders, and children and young adults with
special educational needs (Down Syndrome, Autism, Learning Disabilities, etc.) One
of the workshops provided for children and youth deals with the care of
ornamental fish and plants for aquariums as well as open outdoor fish tanks.
Weekly, approximately twenty-one children participate. These workshops are also
provided for children and youth who need special education programmes, as part
of Cuba’s commitment to ensuring social inclusion for all. A recess period takes
place during the summer months of July and August, with the workshops beginning
again in September. Dr. Leyssan Cepero, Quinta’s dynamic and committed
veterinarian, is training two teachers who will assist him with the children.
Here’s an image of Leyssan sitting in front of one of the open fish tanks used
in the workshops:
Dr. Leyssan with an open outdoor fish tank in the
background.
Recently, and
through the generous assistance of two of our Spanky Project supports (Anna from
Toronto, Canada and Susan from Manhattan, New York), we were able to assist
Quinta in their purchase of ornamental aquatic fish and ornamental aquatic
plants for their Workshops on Aquarium (or Fish Tank) Care for Children and
Youth. Of a total of CUC 179 that was provided, CUC 94 was dedicated to
purchasing ornamental aquatic plants and the remainder for purchasing 484
ornamental fish that included twenty-two different species.
The
fish, whose care and diet are part of what the children learn, were distributed
among Quinta’s open outdoor tanks as well as several large fish tanks, the
majority of which are used in the Workshops. For the ornamental aquatic plants,
a total of 70 different species were purchased which were planted in the open
outdoor tanks, most of which were used in the Aquarium and Open Tank Workshops,
where the children and youth learned how to plant them, prune them and prepare
the specific underwater substratum in which these plants are located and where
they propagate. Below are images of some of the children standing around one of
the outdoor open fish tanks and preparing the aquatic plants. The second image
shows the aquatic plants placed in the water with several varieties of
ornamental fish swimming around them.
Learning how to prepare
the substratum for ornamental aquatic plants
Ornamental aquatic
plants and fish in the outdoor open tank.
Among
the more common species of ornamental fish (and a few images) that were
purchased are the following (with the names of their species in Spanish):
Arcoíris
Ancistus
Barbo cereza
Barbo chuberthy
Barbo rosa
Carpa
Cebra
Coridora paleatus
Danio malabárico
Escalar
Gato
Gouramis enano
Paraíso
Platy
Ramireci
Tetra cobre
Tetra ecuatoriana
Tetra emperador
Tetra limón
Tetra negra
Tetra neón
Tetra serpa
Arcoíris
Carpa
Tetra neón
Among
the more common species of ornamental aquatic plants (and a few images) that
were purchased are the following (with the names of their species in Spanish):
Anubia enana
Aponogetum crispus
Bacopa carolineana
Bacopa monnieri
Cinta sagitaria
Criptorcorina hoja fina
Criptorcorina hoja gruesa
Cryptocorine wendtti
Eleocharis Aciculanis
Equinodorus diamante rojo
Equinodorus leopardo oxidental
Equinodorus red flame
Equinodorus rose
Heterantera zosterifolia
Higófila
Hydrocotyle sombrerillo
Hygrophila difformis
Myriophilium acuaticum
Myriophilium
tuberculatum
Rotala rotundifolia rosada
Rotala wallichii
Rotala
rotundifolia
Vallisneria caulescens
Cinta sagitari
Equinodorus rose
Rotala Willichii
Rotalarotundifolia rosada
Note: We’ll be able to
add images of the special education children working on this project in the
latter part of September, when the photographer who took the images returns
with the group in mid-September to begin the workshops anew.
There’s
no question but that initiatives such as these are bearing fruit. One only has
to see the art work created by the children in their different workshops at
Quinta to see how they feel. Here’s one that says Amamos los Animales (We love Animals):
If
you’d like to help Quinta’s ornamental fish and aquatic plants workshops…
Up to now, the Quinta Aquarium and Outdoor Water Tank
Workshops have been able to obtain – through short-term loans from private fish
breeders - small fish tanks for the practical part of the activity where the
children learn how to care for fish. However, this is no longer the case. What
Quinta would like to do is to arrange to have fifteen or twenty small fish
tanks made that would belong to them. To make one tank costs between CUC 8 and
CUC 10. Fifteen to twenty small fish tanks would thus cost a minimum of CUC 120
(for fifteen @ CUC 8) and a maximum of CUC 200 (for twenty @ CUC 10). If you’d
like to assist this project – with whatever you can provide - please contact
the Spanky Project.
Note- 1 CUC is more or less on par to 1 USD
Note- 1 CUC is more or less on par to 1 USD
