Combining Skills Training, Heritage Restoration and Jobs

Combining Skills Training, Heritage Restoration and Jobs
Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Feb 10 (IPS) - "Restoring our heritage is like reliving history
day by day," said Alberto Herrera, making himself heard above the
banging of hammers and the strident buzz of a motor saw in this
vocational training school in Old Havana, where he is learning carpentry.

In adjoining rooms, other young people can be seen learning the
different trades that are taught at the Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
school, which has been training workers for restoration and conservation
work in the historic centre of the capital for over a decade.

A total of 462 young people graduated from the school between 1992 and
2004, one-fifth of whom were women. About 75 percent are working for the
Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, which according to head
teacher Eduardo González shows the strong sense of "belonging" to the
project.

The school views the students as apprentices, and when their two years
of theoretical and practical training are up they can choose to work in
the Office of the Historian, which is connected with the school, or
accept job offers elsewhere. "There is no coercion or pressure to stay
with the Office, they make their own choices," said González.

"I have learned things that I knew absolutely nothing about. There is an
enormous amount of work to be done, and I'll certainly be staying on to
work here," said Herrera, who has already completed half his coursework
to become a certified restoration carpenter.

The school was founded on Apr. 6, 1992 as the result of an agreement
between the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and the Office
of the Historian in Havana, which remained in effect until 2003. Since
then, it has been funded by the Cuban government alone.

The project has contributed to the rebirth of crafts that were being
lost, and provides the skilled workers essential to saving the heritage
of Old Havana. It has also become an important source of employment for
young people in Old Havana and other parts of the city.

For the first few years, courses were offered in masonry, archaeology,
stone cutting, carpentry, electricity, gardening, blacksmithing,
painting, plumbing, glasswork and plastering. Later the number of crafts
was reduced, according to need.

"We don't want to put out graduates who then have no jobs. That's one of
the school's main principles," González told IPS.

But demand has grown to such an extent that a new group of 120 students
will begin classes in February. Many of the teachers will be graduates
from the earliest years, added González, who has headed the programme
from the outset.

"There is a need for this skilled labour force. Here we teach them about
the heritage aspects, and about the construction features that are
typical of buildings in Cuba," he explained. In the old buildings that
are being restored, many systems and features are no longer in current
use, which means the restoration workers need special training.

"So our young people learn by working directly on restoration sites,
under the supervision of professional builders who have been trained
here in Old Havana," González added.

The Cuban capital was founded in 1519. Old Havana, which was declared a
World Heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1982, is one of the most dynamic
cultural, tourist and financial centres in this Caribbean island nation.

The school that trains restoration specialists is part of the
wide-ranging programme undertaken by the Office of the Historian, which
goes beyond the renewal and conservation of old buildings to include the
70,000 residents of Old Havana as well.

González noted that another important aim of the school is to offer
young people who have "dropped out" of studies and work the opportunity
to learn a trade.

"About 60 percent of the young people who have passed through or are
attending our school live in Old Havana, and we would like to see that
proportion grow even more," in order to provide possible solutions to
social problems and keep people actively involved in their work. "We
want these young people to feel they have a job that is, to some extent,
stable," he added.

"This is great, you learn to work and to be responsible, and that's
helpful for the future. I have felt like a better person since I started
working here," said Juan Alberto Rivero, 21, who specialised three years
ago in metalworking, and who lives five blocks away from the school. "I
feel pleased and proud when I see the finished buildings that we have
worked on," he commented.

When registration began for the first course at the school, Lissete
Roura was 21 and was studying German, with the sole aim of "adding to my
knowledge," she confessed. Now she has no regrets about her decision to
specialise in archaeological history. "It completely changed my life,"
she stressed.

Beside her, Yadira Arteaga, 27, recalls that she was "hanging around
doing nothing, because I hadn't found my vocation," until she decided to
take on the challenge of learning to restore mural paintings. "I do this
work first and foremost because I like it, it's much more than a means
of earning a living," she said.

Arteaga's monthly salary is 296 Cuban pesos, equivalent to about 12 U.S.
dollars in the government exchange bureaus, plus a "stipend" of 10
convertible pesos (CUC), worth something over 10 dollars, which is paid
to everybody working for the Office of the Historian in Havana.

Cuban authorities argue that comparisons between the national currency
and the U.S. dollar are misleading, pointing out that the exchange rate
does not take into account the free health and education, subsidies in
other basic services, and food distributed under the ration card system
received by all Cubans.

Housing, however, continues to be a major problem in Old Havana. More
than 45 percent of the dwellings recorded in the 2001 census lacked
basic amenities, and half were multi-occupancy dwellings, that is, old
houses where several families live and share common areas, including
bathrooms.

"People with housing and social problems have enrolled in the course,
and we try to help them find solutions. In fact, the training they
receive puts them in a better position to help themselves and to improve
the living conditions of their families," González commented.

He noted that Latin American cities such as Lima, Peru; Quito, Ecuador;
and Cartagena in northern Colombia have set up projects similar to the
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos school, although not all are established on
such solid institutional foundations.

Restoration and conservation work in Old Havana began in the 1980s, and
received a boost in 1993 when the government empowered the Office of the
Historian, run by Eusebio Leal, to manage the historic centre of the
city in a self-financed way.

Sources at the Office reported that between 1994 and 2002, work on 76
cultural heritage buildings was completed, and on 14 hotels with a
combined total of 413 rooms, another 79 tourist establishments such as
cafés and shops, 11 real estate offices, 171 social projects and 3,092
housing units.

It is also estimated that more than 11,000 jobs have been created for
residents of Old Havana or neighbouring districts as part of the
project. (END/2006)

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