Two Canadians on a humanitarian mission in Cuba say it’s easier for locals to count the variety of hours the lights are on than off.
And when electricity is flowing, Leanne Isaak says Cubans will be seen scrambling to get as many tasks done as they’ll, reminiscent of cooking, charging phones, showering and filling buckets with water.
“People say, ‘I could not get power again for 3 days so I’m going to do every little thing that I want to do on this one or two-hour time-frame to arrange for the subsequent chunk of time once I’m just going to try to maintain going,” said Isaak, the founder and a co-director of a non-profit called One Shared Future Un Futuro Compartido.
“In Spanish they are saying, ‘We don’t have blackouts, now we have lights-on,’ because (they’re) more often at the hours of darkness than they’ve electricity,” added Elise Hjalmarson, also a co-director of the non-profit.
The ladies, who live in Kelowna, B.C., arrived in Cuba on Friday with 14 suitcases full of medication, solar equipment, multivitamins, adult diapers, surgical gloves and menstrual products, amongst other goods.
In an interview from Havana on Saturday, they said they plan to search out a driver with an electrical automotive and, in partnership with Cuban-led groups, distribute the items across the island over several days. In addition they plan to purchase rice and beans with money donations for distribution.
“A few of that is going to hospitals, it’s going to women’s centres. We’ve a complete number of places that we built connections with,” said Isaak, who also works on the University of British Columbia.
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Life on the Caribbean island has been rapidly deteriorating because the U.S. removed Venezuela’s leader in January, halting critical petroleum shipments from the nation that had been a steadfast ally to Havana. U.S. President Donald Trump has also threatened tariffs on any country selling or supplying Cuba with oil.
The island has since been counting on its own natural gas, solar energy and oil to run thermoelectric plants, but that hasn’t been enough to fulfill demand.
Isaak and Hjalmarson said they experienced the dire situation as soon as they landed. There was an influence outage on the airport. They heard a flicker and a generator, and the conveyor belt carrying their bags began moving minutes later.
“Then we had an influence outage within the evening after we got to our Airbnb, after which we had one other one within the morning, so you may see the frequency. This portion of town, a couple of 12 months ago, would possibly get lower than a handful of power outages,” said Isaak, who has made nearly a dozen trips to Cuba for her charity work.
The ladies said they carried all 14 of their suitcases up several flights of stairs because an outage dropped at a halt the elevator within the constructing where they’re staying.
Lots of the nation’s 11 million residents are struggling to maintain food from spoiling. Hospitals have cancelled surgeries. The leading university has reduced classes as a consequence of the ability outages and transportation shutdowns.
Trump is demanding, partially, that Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel leave his position, release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in return for a lifting of sanctions.
After Cuba’s electric grid collapsed last week, spurring an island-wide blackout, Trump told reporters he believed he’d soon have “the honour of taking Cuba.”
Aid shipments are starting to reach and a Russian oil delivery is anticipated this month, but fuel shortages remain critical.
Isaak said the challenges she and Hjalmarson are facing don’t compare to those faced by Cubans.
“Individuals are drained, they’re frustrated, they’re stressed. There’s a lot uncertainty,” Isaak said. “Quite a lot of them, once they describe how they’re feeling, they are saying they’re surviving.”
And Cubans are surviving by finding the enjoyment in each day life, she said.
“We were walking around like two within the morning and folks were out playing dominoes on the road. Music was happening, people were dancing,” Isaak said.
“Some Cubans hate the word resilient, but they’re such an incredibly resilient people and so they find joy in being with one another.”
The strategy of distributing items over the subsequent several days feels daunting, Isaak added.
“But we’re excited to be here, and to start.”
© 2026 The Canadian Press