Hear & see Griselda in person on Wednesday November 29, 7 pm at Central United Methodist Church, 639 N. 25th Street, at Wisconsin Ave., MKE 53233. (Free off street parking south of the church.) Free and open to the public.
Cuban Sister Griselda Aguilera Cabrera (biography below), who was a 7 year old teacher in the Film Maestra in the 1960 Literacy Campaign, will be visiting Milwaukee & Chicago November 29th- December 8, 2017. Please contact us ASAP if you would like to schedule her for a meeting or presentation.
http://www.maestrathefilm.org/
The Chicago Cuba Coalition (CCC) plans to have a special event for Griselda on Saturday evening, December 2 to talk about both the 1960 Literacy Campaign and the present Yo Si Puedo (Yes I Can) Cuban International Literacy Campaign that has reached 10 million people in 30 countries.
I was born on October 8, 1953 in the province of Holguín, in a humble family. We had to
move to Havana out of economic necessity in search of job opportunities for my father.
At three years of age, given my insistence, they started me studying with a private tutor
who was teaching my sister. Within a few months, I was starting to read and write and
learning my numbers. My learning continued to the point that I was skipped first grade in Primary School. When the Literacy Campaign began in 1961, my parents joined up
as Popular Literacy volunteers and since regular schools closed for one year, I had to go with them each day to the place where the literacy classes were taught at the Plaza de Cuatro Caminos. Feeling that despite my age I could give my contribution to this task
(in which all the people were engaged with enormous enthusiasm), I immediately stated that tell them of my desire to join up, and a special Commission was created to evaluate me. I taught literacy in the same center as my parents to a 58-year-old man named Carlos Perez Isla. He worked as a street cleaner and was totally illiterate. This experience was seared into me with such force that it defined my future. From that
moment, I decided to dedicate my life to teaching.
At age 17, already married and with my first son, I decide to start teaching, and in 1978 I
graduated as a mathematics teacher. I taught at junior high schools and technical
schools, to both teenagers and adults. With great sadness, after some years and at the
suggestion of my doctors (because of having damaged my vocal cords), I had to leave
classroom teaching. I went on to become an adult educator in a construction company, working for more than 20 years as head of the training department, giving lectures on issues such as economic and cultural aspects of management techniques, environmental protection, health and safety issues at the workplace, etc. I managed to continue educating myself through courses and seminars to impart them and thus, nevertheless,
always keep in the educational activity. With the workers, I also developed and coordinated the battles for 6th and 9th grades.
“Griselda was in second grade when she saw the droves of young people euphorically going off to alphabetize the nation and insisted on volunteering for the campaign. Obviously too young to be sent out to the countryside, Griselda was given one student whom she taught to read and write in her home. His name was Carlos Perez and he was 58 years old. The experience stayed with her and profoundly contributed to her personal and social development. Griselda later became a math teacher, and has wholeheartedly dedicated her life to teaching ever since.” 
Griselda 1961 handing titulo (literacy certificate) to Carlos Perez Isla.
Categories: Events
Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba 