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Three Minutes for My Mother’s Birthday

Power outages and a lack of internet turn a family phone call between Berlin and Villa Clara into an ordeal marked by distance and exile.

By Yankiel Gutierrez Faife (14ymedio)

HAVANA TIMES – I finished work in Berlin at five o’clock that afternoon. It had been a long day, but from the moment I left home that morning, my body had been in Germany while my mind remained in Cuba. It was my mother’s birthday, and I could think of only one thing: somehow managing to speak with her before her birthday ended back on the Island.

Throughout the workday, I glanced at the clock several times. Not because I wanted my shift to end, but because I kept calculating the time difference. I knew this wouldn’t be just any phone call. In Cuba, making a call depends on too many things: having electricity, having phones with charged batteries, having cell service and internet access, and having someone available to answer.

When I got home, I didn’t even change out of my work clothes. The first thing I did was buy international calling minutes. I couldn’t call through WhatsApp, and the messages I had sent couldn’t be delivered. Without electricity, there’s no internet, and when blackouts last nearly the entire day, a video call becomes an almost impossible luxury. I wanted to hear my mother’s voice, even if only for a few minutes, to know how she was doing and wish her a happy birthday with my own voice.

I dialed the house phone. It was switched off. I kept waiting until 11:30 that night in Berlin—5:30 in the afternoon in Cuba. I tried calling again. No one answered. I called once more. Nothing.

In Cuba, making a phone call depends on too many things

I wasn’t surprised. I pictured their phones lying discharged on a........

© Havana Times