'People are tired:' Canadians on humanitarian mission describe life in Cuba

A street vendor waits for customers on the Malecón during a blackout in Havana, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Two Canadians on a humanitarian mission in Cuba say it’s easier for locals to count the number of hours the lights are on than off.

And when electricity is flowing, Leanne Isaak says Cubans can be seen scrambling to get as many tasks done as they can, such as cooking, charging phones, showering and filling buckets with water.

“People say, ‘I may not get power again for three days so I’m going to do everything that I need to do in this one or two-hour time-frame to prepare for the next chunk of time when I’m just going to try to keep going,” said Isaak, the founder and a co-director of a non-profit called One Shared Future Un Futuro Compartido.

“In Spanish they say, ‘We don’t have blackouts, we have lights-on,’ because (they’re) more often in the dark than they have electricity,” added Elise Hjalmarson, also a co-director of the non-profit.

The women, who live in Kelowna, B.C., arrived in Cuba on Friday with 14 suitcases full of medicine, solar equipment, multivitamins, adult diapers, surgical gloves and menstrual products, among other goods.

In an interview from Havana on Saturday, they said they plan to find a driver with an electric car and, in partnership with Cuban-led groups, distribute the items across the island over several days. They also plan to buy rice and beans with cash donations for distribution.

“Some of this is going to hospitals, it’s going to women’s centres. We have a whole variety of places that we built connections with,” said Isaak, who also works at the University of British Columbia.

Life on the Caribbean island has been rapidly deteriorating since the U.S. removed Venezuela’s leader in January, halting critical petroleum shipments from the nation that had been a steadfast ally to Havana. U.S. President Donald Trump has also threatened tariffs on any country selling or supplying Cuba with oil.

The island has since been relying on its own natural gas, solar power and oil to run thermoelectric plants, but that hasn’t been enough to meet demand.

Isaak and Hjalmarson said they experienced the dire situation as soon as they landed. There was a power outage at the airport. They heard a flicker and a generator, and the conveyor belt carrying their bags began moving minutes later.

“Then we had a power outage in the evening when we got to our Airbnb, and then we had another one in the morning, so you can see the frequency. This portion of the city, about a year ago, would maybe get less than a handful of power outages,” said Isaak, who has made nearly a dozen trips to Cuba for her charity work.

The women said they carried all 14 of their suitcases up several flights of stairs because an outage brought to a halt the elevator in the building where they’re staying.

Many of the nation’s 11 million residents are struggling to keep food from spoiling. Hospitals have cancelled surgeries. The leading university has reduced classes due to the power outages and transportation shutdowns.

Trump is demanding, in part, that Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel leave his position, release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in return for a lifting of sanctions.

After Cuba’s electric grid collapsed last week, spurring an island-wide blackout, Trump told reporters he believed he’d soon have “the honour of taking Cuba.”

Aid shipments are beginning to arrive and a Russian oil delivery is expected this month, but fuel shortages remain critical.

Isaak said the challenges she and Hjalmarson are facing don’t compare to those faced by Cubans.

“People are tired, they’re frustrated, they’re stressed. There’s so much uncertainty,” Isaak said. “A lot of them, when they describe how they’re feeling, they say they’re surviving.”

And Cubans are surviving by finding the joy in daily life, she said.

“We were walking around like two in the morning and people were out playing dominoes on the street. Music was happening, people were dancing,” Isaak said.

“Some Cubans hate the word resilient, but they are such an incredibly resilient people and they find joy in being with each other.”

The process of distributing items over the next several days feels daunting, Isaak added.

“But we’re excited to be here, and to get started.”

With files from Associated Press

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press