Love works in wonderful ways. Carmen Ramírez Álvarez knows it. Fifteen years ago this feeling revitalized her soul, true that she did not heal everlasting wounds. But when the sociocultural project Raíces de San José was born, this woman who overflows with passion, felt that her destiny offered her new beginnings and she anchored her dreams to that space in Las Tunas.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- "Since then, I have worked with more love and dedication. I get tired, stumble, and move on; and I don't stop, and I have to go on and teach many people that culture is identity," she expresses with an electrifying momentum, perhaps a trait of her character and one of the keys that have allowed her to overcome the vicissitudes of existence and humanity.
"For me, the project means life and the commitment to move forward and defend the conquests of the country. We have already accumulated 15 years working from the community and doing culture because culture is Revolution," she recently expressed, deserving the initiative she leads, the Young Homeland Award, granted by the José Martí Youth Movement (MJM in Spanish).
Countless are the moments that she treasures from these years, particularly endearing is her participation in the National Contest of the Community Initiative Exchange and Reference Center (CIERIC in Spanish) in Havana. Her gaze still shines when she recalls the experience that she put to the test so much work and the links with the José Mastrapa primary school, or other institutions such as the University of Las Tunas, the University of Medical Sciences, and the Dr. Carlos Font senior care home.
"There were 104 projects at the national level and I had no experience. I am a cultural promoter, that is, I am not an instructor of any manifestation of art, I carry it in my heart, but I am not. I tell you, it is not easy to present to a CIERIC contest, you know that you are contending and everyone who contests wants to win.
"When they came to evaluate the project, I was so nervous that it seemed that I was defending a thesis.
They told me" you are not going to speak, it is the people who are going to speak "and they asked all the people they wanted to ask. Finally, they considered that it was not just a project, but a macro project, because to work with all age groups you really have to have a desire to work! In San José you live culture, you enjoy yourself, it is a big movement and the people follow you."
Carmen's roots are tied to the land where she was born and raised; from her family, she inherited the wisdom that animates her, a taste for peasant traditions, for the popular, and for the naturalness of simple people who create and make an unusual work out of the ordinary in many ways.
"That leadership that I have achieved, the fact that people trust and follow me, fills me with joy and satisfaction and is one of the things that gives me strength to continue working for culture in this community and wanting its transformation; because projects transform a community. We have already achieved a lot and we can achieve more. From culture, we can achieve many things. That is our first weapon against all enemies."
She dreams of creating a musician-dancer group, of owning a headquarters for the project, with the perpetuity of this useful work ..., and when she lists its future, she is lavish in recognition for all those who have placed dreams and endeavors there. Others who like her know how important bread is as spiritual food. She walks incombustible, infusing everyone with energy, with the certainty of what is beyond us.
"You don't need great things to defend culture. Because Fidel, our top Leader, made the Revolution, where? In the Sierra, fighting. So we have to learn to defend culture whatever it is, if it's under a tree, then underneath of a tree. No audio? Well, no audio. Is there a single child or a single grandfather coming? Well, we must work so that those who are there do not lose motivation and confidence, if not, we will not advance."
And so goes Carmen, the "Angel de la Jiribilla" of San José.
