T-burg Bus to Cuba

Duration: 6 minutes.
Trumansburg artist Dan Burgevin and his friend Alan Vogel, with support from the Fingerlakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance, have purchased a 14-1/2-ton diesel school bus to carry humanitarian aid and passengers on the 21st Pastors for Peace US-Cuba Friendship Caravan. The video is mostly time-lapse photography over a two-day period when the bus was inspected, lubricated, had the oil and antifreeze changed, was washed and coated with white with "gripper" paint --a fresh canvas for a muralist to do his magic-- all set to music by the Cuban fusion ensemble Mezcla (who performed at Castaways in Ithaca and at the Rochester International Jazz Festival as part of a recently completed US tour).

Next stop for Dan will be Ontario Canada to pick up humanitarian aid. He then returns to Ithaca on Thursday, July 8, where locally collected aid, prioritizing construction tools, supplies, and hardware, medicines and medical supplies, school supplies and sports and cultural materials, will be loaded on the bus. A press conference is scheduled for 4 pm by the bus in Dewitt Park, with a potluck dinner at the Unitarian Church Parlor at 6 pm with caravan speakers (there will be three other caravanistas joining Dan in Ithaca), Mezcla music video, Cuban percussion and dance (all for a voluntary donation).

Dan's bus is on one of fourteen routes in the US and Canada which will converge near the US border with Mexico.

After traveling through the United States and Canada and stopping in a dozen or so host cities along one of fourteen caravan routes, the bus will join the other vehicles as the fourteen caravan routes converge in Texas in preparation for crossing the border into Mexico. This is a time for packing and manifesting the aid, some preparatory learning about the current situation in Cuba and discussion about how to handle any obstacles that US or Mexican Customs may put in our way.

This will be Dan's fourth trip to Cuba with Pastors for Peace. Please come to the event on Thursday, July 8. If you have aid to contribute, or can help with the the Cuban night dinner, send an email to aid-at-ithacacuba.net.

Peace.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• cuba
• pastors for peace
• trumansburg
• ithaca
• school bus
• Dan Burgevin
• Alan Vogel