Monthly Cuba Cultural-Film Night, a campaign to bring the culture of Cuba to Vancouver! Highlighting Cuban Healthcare! As has become customary on the first Friday of every month, a diverse and growing group of people met at Mount Pleasant Neighborhood House to join Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC) to explore and celebrate different aspects of Cuban culture. This evening was in honour of the gains and achievements of the Cuban Health Care System. Payvand Pejvack, organizer with Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC) opened the evening explaining the simple principle which has led to the monumental achievements of Cuban healthcare: “Health is a human right, not something to be bought and sold. What’s most in important in life is life.” Payvand then introduced the first film “A Thousand Reasons to Live,” which details many of the achievements of Cuban healthcare. From the infants to the elderly, from Havana to across the globe, Cubans were seen providing free, compassionate, and comprehensive care to whomever they could. In her introduction Payvand quoted Che Guevara, who himself had a background as a doctor, “The life of a single human being is worth a million times more than all the property of the richest man on earth... Far more important than a good remuneration is the pride of serving one's neighbor. Much more definitive and much more lasting than all the gold that one can accumulate is the gratitude of a people.” Following this was the film, “Let There Be Light,” which shows Cuban doctors performing life changing eye operations for thousands of people in Latin America and the Caribbean under the name, “Operation Miracle”. After these two short films, Shakeel Lochan, organizer with Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO) read a powerful poem paying homage to Cuba’s revolutionary past, present, and future. People had the opportunity for a break to eat some delicious food and chat with their neighbours before the last film of the evening, “Hillside of the Himalayas”. The film chronicles the 2005 mission of 2,500 Cuban doctors who traveled to Pakistan after a devastating earthquake hit the country. The doctors traveled in some of the coldest and most remote areas of Pakistan to help hundreds of thousands of people, and the film did not leave many eyes dry in its portrayal of their every day acts of love and compassion. VCSC will continue to explore the diverse and exciting aspects of Cuban society on the first Friday of every month, at the same location. The next cultural-film night is happening on September 12th, 2008	Report Back VCSC Monthly Cuba Cultural & Film Night! Featuring the films: 'Hillside of the Himalayas' 'Let There Be Light' 'Operation Miracle' Click on photos to enlarge