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How do you get 70 Berkeley High School students to a small communist country? The question is not the set-up for a one liner, but the financial nightmare faced by leaders of a group hoping to take students to Cuba this spring. 

“I don’t think that necessarily most of the students realize the amount of money we need,” said junior Jared Lee, who hopes to go to Cuba. “The students are less skeptical than the parents. It’s mostly the parents that are concerned, students seem to think that they can work it out.” 

The trip, organized by Global Exchange will expose youth from BHS’s Communication Arts and Sciences program to rural and urban Cuba. The students will visit schools and hospitals as well as museums, and will gain an understanding of contemporary Cuba, and Cuban history.  

“Reality tours are always focused on an inter-cultural exchange, bringing people a little closer to the reality of the countries that we visit,” said Malia Everette, director of Reality Tours for Global Exchange.  

But inter-cultural exchange like this one isn’t free. The group is budgeting about $1,800 per student, plus the costs for teachers and chaperones. Lee gets a regular paycheck from his job at a toy store, all of which will be put towards the Cuba trip. But students who don’t have jobs, or whose work money goes to other causes, may not be able to make the funds. Parents and guardians have submitted forms indicating how much money they can contribute. Lee said that’s left them with a deficit of about $80,000.  

“That’s a lot of money to raise in a couple of months,” he said.  

So parents, teachers and students have started fund raising. They can be found at the Rockridge Bart station on Friday evenings selling bread donated by Acme. Or they might be seen asking relatives, friends and neighbors for small donations. 

Students must contribute five hours to fund raising, even if they already have their own way paid. “It has been made clear that regardless of the amount of money your family can commit, they have to do fund-raising,” said Michael Miller, a parent of one student going on the trip. 

The fund-raising takes all forms. Students organized a Cuban dinner-dance for Friday at the Alternative High School. “Everything that needs to be done the students will be doing it,” said Miller, including preparing food, acting as waitpersons, and cleaning-up afterwards. 

He cautioned that hungry cubanophiles should secure their tickets right away. “Tickets went on sale yesterday at group meeting,” said Miller. “There were probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-70 people and almost all the tickets are spoken for.”  

“It’s an interesting concept to fund-raise from our own pockets,” he said, laughing. On Feb. 25 the students will host a benefit lunch at Venezia Caffe and Ristorante. 

Lee said that the fund-raising process hasn’t been all drudgery. “If everybody was paid for there wouldn’t be bi-weekly meetings,” he said. The meetings have provided an opportunity for the students from all different grade levels to get to know each other prior to crossing borders. 

The students will learn even more about each other through the various projects about Cuba leading up to their travels. But the trip, to take place around spring break, is what most students have their eyes on. 

“A lot of inner city youth don’t have a lot of opportunity to travel,” said Global Exchange’s Everette, who has taken other high school groups to Cuba. “For them to go to another country and see another culture broadens their world view. They realize, wow, things aren’t like they are in Berkeley.”  

Lee is looking forward to discovering the truth behind the myths of Cuba. “It’s a good example of a working communist nation,” he said. “It’ll be interesting because of the stigma on communist governments.”  

In particular he is interested in seeing the way U.S. policy has impacted Cuba. 

Everette’s goal, she said, is to encourage this kind of thinking on a larger world scale. “Hopefully they’ll think about U.S. policy in other countries,” she said. “I think that honors young mature minds.” 

To donate money or attend a fund-raiser contact Kimberly Willis-Starbuck at 869-4544.