On September 24, It’s Just The Kids, Inc (IJTK) and its volunteers, met at Miami International Airport in Florida. The 49 volunteers boarded a plane for the short charter flight to Havana, Cuba, with the goal of assembling and constructing 4 new playgrounds in family neighborhoods in one week. The volunteers were selected by IJTK according to their dedication to the mission to help children, and their commitment to assist in achieving this ambitious goal. Each volunteer also conducted fundraising and raised at least $1,600 towards the purchase of the playground equipment, without which the project would not be possible.  

We arrived in Havana at approximately 9:30am. For many volunteers, this was their first visit to Cuba. The excitement of finally arriving in Havana after months of planning was apparent on all their faces. For those of us that had already visited Cuba , it was like we had never left. We de-boarded the plane, went through immigration control, collected our baggage and were transported by bus to our hotel, the Melia Cohiba in Vedado.

After checking into our hotel rooms, IJTK held a lunch and an orientation meeting to introduce the volunteers to this wonderful project and the Team Leaders. The Team Leaders were Maritza, Mike, Jenn & Chad. They were selected by the Project Leader, Dan Casey, for their experience and ability to lead and coordinate a community build project which we were undertaking that week. Dan, formerly of Kaboom! was with IJTK as the Project Leader on the first successful Playground Project, completed in 2003.

After the lunch meeting, the volunteers traveled by bus to the first playground site, scheduled to replace 50-year-old equipment in Cotorro. On the way, we stopped by Parque Plaza, a playground that was replaced during IJTK's first project in 2003. The volunteers were able to see an example of what their work would yield during their week in Havana.

Upon our arrival in Cotorro, all the volunteers went to the Mayors office, where they were enthusiastically greeted by the Mayor of Cotorro and other city officials. After a brief presentation and a welcome "mojito", the volunteers went to the site and began to assemble the equipment that was waiting for them. IJTK had arranged for the equipment to arrive in Havana approximately a week prior to the arrival of the volunteers. The Cuban workers had already removed the equipment from the shipping container, which really helped to step up production. Also, the Cuban workers had already dug the post-holes and were ready to provide us with the concrete we needed to secure the posts.

It had been a very long day for the volunteers and so after a couple of hours, we re-boarded the bus and returned to the hotel. It was Saturday night in Havana and we were all were eager to get cleaned up, explore the city and enjoy the wonderful food and entertainment the city had to offer. We were to begin again the next morning and the volunteers were asked to meet in the hotel lobby at 8am.After a brief review of the day, we split into smaller groups to make plans for the evening.