Women of Cuba are. _ building new life Edna Fetterly of Vancouver Island attended the Congress of Women of all the Americas in Havana, Jan. 11-15. Here she tells her story to Myrtle Bergren for readers of the Pacific Tribune. earching among her sou- Sa from Cuba, Mrs. Edna Fetterly, back in her home at Wellington, Vancou- ver Island, unrolled a little “pennant inscribed with words in the beautiful Spanish ton- gue: Unidas por la liberacion, la paz el progress y la felici- dad! — Unity for freedom, peace, progress and happi- ness! Those few words express the vow made in the hearts of over 600 delegates besides observers from many coun- tries of the world who attend- ed the Congress of Women of All the Americas held in Havana, January 11 to 15, on the occasion of the 4th anni- versary of the Cuban Revo- lution. “Tt was a wonderful exper- ience,” she told me warmly. “Anyone who goes down there ‘and doesn’t see what the revolution has done for Cuba is blind. It was an emo- tional experience to witness the huge crowds at the par- ade and rally held in Revo- lution Plaza on the 2nd of January. “Castro and the Soviet as- tronaut, Popovich, stood ‘to- gether on the reviewing stand, and at the close of Castro’s two-hour speech the people shouted ‘Fi-del! Fi- del!’ clapping their hands in their special way with a sort of double beat which is very emotional, with their hands over their heads, and waving flags. They broke ranks and swarmed across the square to the stand, and we were a million and a half people all holding hands and singing their revolutionary anthem— even Castro and Popovich, holding hands and everyone swaying back and forth.—No words can ever express these people and their enthusiasm for their revolution, and how full of fire they are! “A woman master of cere- monies was included among the officials of that day, Vio- leta Casals. So passionately did she speak for the revo- lution that we asked after- wards who she was and learned she was an actress, who had been much abused by the Batista men, assaulted and raped and treated like an animal, so she went up in the mountains and fought side by side with Fidel.” e “At the Congress many of the delegates came at con- siderable risk because of their governments. For _ instance the Columbian women came without passports or visa:s and had no way of knowing if they would be allowed to return to their homes again. One was from El Salvador, and when she got off at Mex- ico City where we were all treated like criminals, her government had already wir- ed and asked them to deport Greet Canadian women on 53rd anniversary of Int. Women’s Day he congress of Canadian Women last week released the following statement on the occasion of the 53rd anniversary of International Women’s Day: The Congress of Canadian Women fraternally greets the 53rd anniversary of Inter- national Women’s Day. Founded March 8, 1910, out of the struggles of the world’s working women for equal economic and political rights and for peace, succeed- ing International Women’s Days have witnessed steady gains in many aspects of the life of women. The women of Canada, too, have in this half century made great advances in se-. curing political and economic status and rights. As an in- dispensable part of the per- manent labor force they are forging ahead for the full implementation of laws de- signed to help them achieve equality, e.g., the equal pay laws. They are working for an end to the continuing dis- @rimination against women Ka industry, the professions, and in public life; to make gecure the right of married women to work, and to make it possible for them to work through the public provision of adequate nurseries and day care centers. _ March 1, 1963—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 6 Our economy is crisis- ridden—the costly arms race brings ever-soaring, prices, krushing) taxation, chronic mass unemployment and low- ered living standards. Ruth- less foreign control of our economy, together with the danger of thermonuclear war threaten to wipe out the gains of the past fifty years. In this new, fearful, nuc- lear age, our very survival is in jeopardy, both to re- main alive at all and as an independent nation. This is the paramount question for the women of Canada today. The C.C.W. cordially sa- lutes the continuing efforts of the women of Canada for their just rights and for the security of the family. But above all, we urge Canadian women to unite and work for the imperative right to peace, for the right to keep our country green, free from nuclear arms, from nuclear destruction; for the sovereign right to determine our own national destiny, wtihout for- eign intervention; for an end to nuclear tests and for wor!d disarmament. her to Cuba, as she was not to be allowed back into her own country. She had a hus- band and three children. “Many resolutions were passed at the Congress de- manding the freeing of poli- tical prisoners in all the Americas, including the U:S., from which there were five delegates. Every country had some protest about U.S. dom- ination. It seemed to be at the centre of their problems. Reports were given on pov- erty, literacy, industrial de- velopment, the kinds of gov- ernment, and so on. “Before the Congress we were kept busy seeing any- thing we wanted to see,” Mrs. Fetterly continued. “One of the things that impressed me most was the rehabilitation program the Castro govern- ment has put into practice for delinquents and prostitutes. I visited three rehabilitation schools in one day. < “The first was for boys ranging in age from 6 to 15 years. A lot of them were illegitimate boys, some had been abandoned by the par- ents, poor people who could- n’t afford to bring up their children before the revolu- tion. A number of these boys had been killers, gangster kids. They were taught the regular school © curriculum and in addition, discipline, marching, singing. They are short of sheet.-music in Cuba, as most of it is printed in the US, : “A second school was for prostitutes from 18 to 45. The school housed about 175 for- mer prostitutes. After the revolution the Castro govern- ment sent women to these houses of prostitution to ask if they would like to have a decent place in society like anyone else, to learn a trade, or go to university, and most of them accepted. They have their own doctors and nurses in attendance at these schools. WOMEN OF CUBA STAND ON GUARD TO DEFEND ee THEIR GAINS “The third rehabilitation school was for former prosti- tutes aged from 10 to 18 years. It gave me a feeling of shock to look at these young girls and realize they were prostitutes at 10. In these cas- es children had been forced into prostitution by parents, because they were starving to death before the revolution, and they had been compelled to put the children on the streets in order to survive. They are taught hygiene and deportment as well as regu- lar schooling. And now these girls think so highly of what Castro is doing for them that ‘the first thing they want to do when they get out is join the militia. e “Everyone of school age is attending school in Cuba, and it doesn’t matter whether “ they are rich or poor, every- one wears a uniform, navy blue drill shorts. and white T-shirts for the boys, and gray skirts and white or striped blouses for the girls. Some of the yacht clubs and : estates formerly for the elite are now converted into schools for the youth. “In the new housing apart-’ ment blocks being built for the working people, the pre- See Women Page 10 CANADIAN WOMEN IN CUBA. Photo above shows some of the delegates from Canada to the recent women’s congress in Cuba. From left to right, Blanche Gelinas from Montreal, Mary Kardash from Winnipeg, Martha Nunez, Cuban inter- preter, and Kertu Laakso from Toronto. ; _ The hour of dawn has To the 3 women of the] whole world By: PABLO NERUDA Before man is woman as mother; With man is woman as wife; After man is woman as a shadow; N Shadow of man, light of man, Woman Hard working at all her tasks Lover, starry as the sky In the tenacious cycle of tenderness; Woman Valiant intellectual Woman Working in cruel factories, Woman