I was only 7 at the time and don't remember a thing about it. But my husband and I go to Cuba for 2 months every winter now, in part to get away from the snow and enjoy the sun, but also in part for humanitarian reasons. I've written about our visits and mission in the past here, so won't go back over it again. We witness a great deal of poverty and need there now...we go to help people fix roofs that get damaged in the various hurricanes, we go to bring medicines and other things that the people there either can't afford to buy or cannot find to buy even if they have the money.

While the fear and anxiety that the Americans felt back in 1962 was real and understandable, the Cuba that we visit now is very impoverished. Buildings are crumbling, people are hungry, decent work is getting harder to come by with every passing year...it truly is a 3rd-world country in many ways.

I have no political stance whatsoever. We just see hunger and need, and do what little we can to alleviate it, if only for a few brief moments every year. It's a beautiful country full of such beautiful, kind, generous people who would give you the shirt off their backs, even if it's the only shirt they own.