Transforming a neighborhood marginalized by the rest of society is a complex task. Located in the Havana municipality of Marianao is Los Pocitos-Palmar People’s Council, a settlement that formally emerged in 1858 and is currently inhabited by people from various provinces of Cuba.
Among its inhabitants is Michael Sánchez Torres, a graduate in Preservation and Management of Historical and Cultural Heritage, and General Coordinator of the Akokán Community Project, a non-profit initiative that creates participatory and solidary spaces promoting local development.
As a professor at the San Geronimo University College in Havana, Michael often took his students to sites of archaeological and heritage value in the community. What began as a university extension project in 2016 is today a reason for joy and a means of learning for many of the inhabitants of Los Pocitos.
Akokán, a term that in the Afro-Cuban Santería or Regla de Osha religion means From the heart, reflects the identity and culture of this neighborhood. In order to financially sustain the project, Michael and his wife, Déborah Vásquez Tamayo, created Café Oddara (an expression that means “Everything is OK”), a social enterprise that allocates 30% of its profits to local development through Akokán.
The youngest members of the family are the protagonists of practically all the activities carried out by the members of the Akokán team. Workshops on medicinal plants, sustainable agriculture, oral storytelling, culinary arts, drawing and English are some of the activities promoted by the project each month.
However, when the first cases of the novel coronavirus arrived in Havana, they decided to suspend the project for a short time in order to draw up a community action plan called “Los Pocitos Resilient to COVID-19.” The aim was to transform all the work they did on a daily basis, since Akokán’s management model was affected by the pandemic.
They also created a mutual support network on Facebook, where users offer or ask for help. This initiative has provided food to more than 50 people and has donated more than 2,500 face masks and 50,000 plant seedlings.
In the last year, the Akokán Project, together with entrepreneurs, volunteers and social institutions, has strengthened and developed a Network of economic initiatives that share values of social and environmental responsibility, defend the potential of the Los Pocitos community, and prioritize the use of local resources and knowledge.
December also brought the Akokán Art and Innovation Festival. COVID-19 led to the event being moved to virtual platforms without preventing, despite the epidemiological context, in-person participation.
But Michael does not think only of Los Pocitos. Regardless of the difficulties, he collaborates with other neighborhoods such as Buena Vista, and during the tornado that hit the capital two years ago, he provided humanitarian aid to 12 vulnerable communities that were affected by the natural disaster.
His dream is that in the future, Akokán will be an internationally recognized NGO, and thus continue to promote small actions that achieve big changes.