One day love knocked on the door of Rosa Figueredo and Sergio Rosabal, companions in life and old people who live alone. That love had and has the face of the young social worker Niurbis González Serrano who works at Los Patios dining room, one of the more than 100 establishments that in the province belong to the Family Attention System (SAF).

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Niurbis has been working in this profession for almost two decades. She has seen a lot, and by now she knows how much the protection of her profession is worth for those who need it. In the community where she works, she has many vulnerable families: mothers with more than three children, single grandparents and pregnant women at risk, a number of situations that demand more than resources and human sensitivity.

Luckily, when a new coronavirus puts humanity in front of a desolate panorama and generates basic survival instincts in many nations of the world; in Las Tunas and in Cuba, there is a whole work system and people like Niurbis who accompany, sustain, and save.

"We go out to distribute lunch and food, we average between 10 and 15 cases per social worker. In addition, we take care of the physically handicapped who are not protected by the Social Assistance within the pensions but are protected by us due to partial disability. We also take care of the food to their homes and we visit them every other day."

In relation to the new dynamics in these days when the Covid-19 demands greater efforts in the work, she concludes: "More than money, we are giving them support and they feel that they are not alone. It is inexplicable how satisfied they are to be able to help".

Rosa Figueredo and Sergio Rosabal are well aware of the new challenges and can vouch for them.

"We are grateful for this attention that we have", says Rosa; while Sergio, more open to dialogue, comments that they are three elderly people alone, as he has a contemporary brother with him under his care and, moreover, with an intellectual disability. "We are grateful," he reiterates.

I ask him what he thinks of the idea of bringing to the house, as a measure of protection before the Covid-19, the food that they used to receive in the dining room and he answers: "They take good care of us in everything. The idea is wonderful, I don't have to take the street anymore. It is very good because some are older than me, and need this way of getting food to them, others live further away, or are handicapped, and it is a great help".

Rosa and Sergio smile, he emphasizes: "She is wonderful and like family". He talks about Niurbis, the social worker. "They are all extraordinary", he says, finally, to refer to the workers of Los Patios.

LOS PATIOS, A LIGHT

Food is no longer served in the Los Patios dining room. Although he has a long experience in administration, Roberto Nápoles Ruz, the person in charge of the place, has only one year working at the SAF. When talking about the work with the grandparents, he says that ‟it is a delight to work with them.” He is proud of this work that materializes, with modesty, but with decency, in places like this. Perhaps for reasons like this and for the interest of "doing things right", the place "shines" for its hygiene.

Nápoles Ruz speaks ‟of the effort and love that is dedicated to older adults in these difficult times. ‟We have reinforced the composition of the kitchen, with four workers in each area, per shift. We enter at 6:00 in the morning so that between 10:30 am and 11:00 am, we serve lunch and the social workers fulfill their function. We have agreed, it has been a joint effort and so far it has worked well, all so that the elderly remain at home.”

Yasmisleydis Leyva Soria, a dependent and worker of Los Patios for 16 years, is one of the architects of that daily action that sometimes exceeds the narrow responsibilities of a job.

Here the satisfaction of the accomplished duty is not a said phrase, but concrete work: more than once, this woman has had to help someone before a "drop-in sugar or the blood pressure". In this time she even learned to deal with the "characters, nerves and manners" of the nearly 130 diners at the establishment; above all the grandparents, who are the majority, although other age groups are also included.

‟I am proud of. Well, imagine if I feel proud that I have been here since I was young, I have practically grown up here, look how old I am! But I will continue working with them because I like it.”

In the dining room, every effort counts, but the truth is that Ramona Rojas Herrera's is essential because what would this place be without the cook? Among the aroma of charcoal, this woman works.

‟I try to do my best. I cook them as best I can, with all my love. And whoever cooks with love, food always looks good. It is not like this?”

Ramona says goodbye with a smile. She is in a hurry because the time to serve and distribute food is approaching. Today, several foods will come out of her stove, distributed between lunch and dinner, with a protein for each schedule.

Meanwhile, Yannaris Romero, a graduate of the first training of social workers is waiting. At home, she has two children waiting for her, but here she also does her part of the duty. Again, she honors the commitment made to Fidel. She has previously done so during the Energy Revolution, in the municipality of Colón, in Matanzas, the Milagro Mission and other tasks in which she has given his contribution.

Yannaris speaks passionately of her work and of the Historical Leader of the Cuban Revolution, creator of this program with a deep humanist vocation: ‟It is something very beautiful. It is our true work, because this is where we demonstrate the reason for the social worker who, as our Commander already said: we are doctors of the soul.”

ACCOMPANYING THE MOST VULNERABLE

With 22 years in operation, the Family Care System is another example of the humanism of the Cuban social project. A sample of how, despite material limitations, you can always do more when the will to not leave anyone to their fate persists, because of every Cuban counts.

This philosophy is closely linked to the circumstance of population aging in the country, since most of the beneficiaries are older adults and, in the face of abandonment or loneliness, SAF rather than a place for food is a place for social integration.

Karina Leen Machado, responsible for this activity in the Business Group of Commerce and Gastronomy in Las Tunas, explains that 116 such establishments operate in all the municipalities of the province, which complement the food of 3,888 inhabitants.

Those who attend these facilities are disabled, retired, physically handicapped, elderly adults living alone, risky pregnant women and, in general, people unable to manage daily food by their own means.

In these establishments, the vulnerability has a face and also hands that alleviate the images of sadness or abandonment. Faced with the dark sign of the COVID-19, Leen Machado declares that they have added new diners, based on the research in the communities and the management of local governments. ‟This is the case, she says, of 10 people in the community of Cascarero in the municipality of Jesús Menéndez or the wandering people housed in the protection center located in the Pioneers Palace of the provincial capital.”

In times like these, the dynamics change and doors inside the Family Care Systems the hustle and bustle are more intense. In their homes, many wait, and they not only receive the daily bread but care and love, that feeling that the more it is given, the more well-being it causes. And it leaves traces.