CUBANS-Resettlement Problems

Emigration often entails the severing of cherished family relationships.

Cubans will endure hardships to achieve academic success.

Resettlement Problems

As can be seen in the discussion above, there are several crucial areas where Cuban revolutionary values clash with American values, and when they do the Cuban newcomer is probably going to feel confused, or negative, or both. Young adult and adolescent Cuban newcomers, in particular, have been shaped by the educational system described above, and have little or no contact with or understanding of other societies. They are the ones most susceptible to the clash in values, especially if the decision to immigrate was not theirs to make.

One very important aspect of emigration to many Cubans is the response of the family members remaining in Cuba. Often, these family members are bitterly opposed to the emigrants' leaving. As a result, emigration often entails, besides the expected hardships, the severing of cherished family relationships. Service providers should be alert to such possibilities.

Service providers in the northwest report that their Cuban clients often have unrealistically high expectations when they arrive—they expect, for example, to be established in their own homes and jobs immediately on arrival—and show impatience with the gradual nature of resettlement.

Bureaucracy

The U.S. bureaucracy presents a formidable challenge to Cubans accustomed to having their needs routinely met by socialist systems. Made up of numerous programs and agencies, each with different eligibility requirements, the bureaucracy here places heavy responsibility on the individual to identify and seek out appropriate services. If Americans who have perfect command of English and who have grown up within the system have difficulties negotiating it, it is no surprise that Cuban newcomers find it impenetrable.

Support Systems

While Cuban newcomers in the 1960s preferred to organize themselves in to extended family support systems, more recent newcomers might feel more comfortable with block and community-level support systems.

Education

Cubans in general have been found to be more trusting of schools than other Hispanic immigrant groups, and they will endure hardship, prejudice, and language barriers to achieve academic success. Studies have shown, for example, that Cubans are more likely to complete high school than other Hispanic immigrant groups.

Cuban children's problems with the U.S. school system have been described in detail in the book, The Children of Mariel: Cuban Refugee Children in South Florida Schools, by Helga Silva. (See the bibliography for further information on this study and those described below.) She studied the experience of schools following the influx of 11,000 new Cuban-American students in six months from the Mariel boatlift, and many of her findings are relevant to today's entrants. Among the findings of this study is the need for more counseling, especially bilingual counseling at the high school level. One educator pointed out the need to continue to monitor the children for an extended period: Subtle, but chronic, emotional problems and anti-social behavior often take a year or more to detect. Another educator added that the schools could make better use of community mental health agencies in helping the children.

Another insightful study that points up potential difficulties in school was conducted by Lisa Grafton, who followed the adjustment of "Roberto," a Cuban 10th grader, over a period of a year following his arrival in March of 1991. Roberto's conversations were filled with allusions to danger, death, drugs, and alcohol in the United States. It was difficult for him to see cultural traits as simply different, and he struggled to find a balance while labeling each trait as inferior or superior. Roberto described Cuba as less dangerous, a place where people help one other. He and other Cuban-American students described the American students as cold and uninterested in them. His negative experiences with American students had contributed to a bias on his part toward forming relationships with them. Most of his support came from other immigrant students and his ESOL teacher. One year after arriving, Roberto still felt strongly connected to his native culture, but he had begun to appreciate the opportunities in his new country and showed willingness to acculturate.

Health Care

As we mentioned above, the complex American health care system reflects the values of individual responsibility (for one's own health care), competition (among health care providers), the centrality of work (for insurance), and the belief that the poor should be served by separate, safety-net programs. The Cuban newcomer, accustomed to having all his health care needs taken care of via a simple, centralized system, will be doubly daunted by our system, and will need extra help in taking advantage of it.

In treating Cuban patients in the United States, health care providers should guard against assuming that they express feelings and reactions in the same way that U.S.-born patients do. For example, Anglo-Americans, in general, are taught to be stoic and not to cry out in pain unless the discomfort is extreme, and to do otherwise is considered self-indulgent or childish. But many Hispanic women are taught that the proper way to handle the pain of childbirth is to let it out vocally. Anglo health care providers may assume that a woman is in great pain or is being self-indulgent. Another example is found in decision-making by women concerning their health care: Anglo providers may become impatient with Hispanic women who delegate the decisions to their husbands.