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For the last several years, Friends in Cuba (as well as other residents) have been experiencing power outages that last throughout the day and evening, on a daily basis. The outages are due, in part, to a deficiency of fuel and spare parts for power plants. These blackouts represent the most severe economic crisis that the country has experienced since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
This absence of electricity throughout the day has significantly disrupted daily life, impacting industries and businesses, as well as the capability to cook, run water, and maintain household necessities. Family members of Cuban refugees in Richmond have reported only having two hours of power per day. Quaker churches have had to move their service times, or reduce them. Many Friends have canceled most of their services during the week, because the church building is dark and because people need daylight to be able to walk home, especially the elderly.
Early in 2025, Friends United Meeting purchased for Cuba Yearly Meeting several large solar “power plants” that can be used to generate and store electricity through the use of solar power, as well as a number of smaller storage batteries that can be charged through the power plants and hold enough power to charge phones and run lights. These power plants, solar panels, and batteries were intended to be carried to Cuba by FUM’s January Living Letters trips, but they had be to left behind because the power plants were too large to carry-on in an airplane and the smaller battery packs were left behind with the Miami Cuban Friends church, because in Miami there is a limit on the amount of lithium that can be carried on board a plane.
Finally, on April 11, Karla Jay, FUM Global Ministries Coordinator, drove to Louisville, Kentucky, to drop off three power plants, eight battery packs, and multiple solar panels with a Cuban logistics and remittance agency that was able to ship them to Cuba.
The batteries arrived in Puerto Padre, Cuba, at the end of May, where Cuba Yearly Meeting Clerk Jorge Luis Peña received them and, along with an electrician, has been working on figuring out how to use them. Then they are planning on distributing the power plants and batteries among Cuban Friends, and will be holding workshops on power plants and batteries in the different Monthly Meetings. The three biggest power plants will go to the churches which have the three biggest buildings: Guibara, Holguin, and Puerto Padre. Jorge Luis has expresses his gratitude to the FUM community. This will be a huge relief for the churches, he says, now they will at least be able to have the lights turned on.
