This past weekend, while visiting friends in Iowa City, I attended a presentation at the public library. The topic was Cuba.

As the presenter, a member of an organization called Pastors for Peace, spoke to the audience, I became more and more aware of the fact that, even though I had a general knowledge of Cuba, I had never really been exposed to first-hand accounts of what the country is like.

Before Sunday, for example, I was unaware of how impressive Cuba’s health care system is.

Cuba’s health care system is one in which everyone is entitled to high quality health care, free of charge. It’s a system developed by a government that considers itself responsible for satisfying the needs and increasing the well-being of families, citizens and society.

All people in Cuba, regardless of age, class, race or location are entitled to and receive the same level of care. And with the highest number of doctors per capita of any nation, the people of Cuba have incredible access to care.

Additionally, to the surprise and disbelief of a good friend of mine, I found out about the full scholarship program to study medicine that the Latin American School of Medicine, in Havana Cuba, offers.

Basically, the program goes as such: If you have a year of biology, physics, inorganic chemistry and organic chemistry and if you promise to practice medicine in low-income and medically under-served communities after graduation, you can obtain a fully accredited medical education free of charge.

In addition to learning about the health care system in Cuba, I was also educated about the “caravanistas.” These are individuals who have made commitments, year after year, to delivering aid to Cuba.

These are people who can attest to what is actually going on inside the country. They can also speak of the measures our government takes to keep anything Cuban from entering the United States and vice versa.

The man who was giving the presentation spoke of his last effort to enter the United States with aid supplies from Cuba. While he waited at the border with 20 other caravanistas, 120 officers from the Homeland Security Department surrounded them, taking pictures of their faces, searching meticulously through every single bag, and confiscating items such as plastic teddy-bear jars of Cuban honey.

He said they were told that if any pictures were taken of the incident, every camera and every bit of film that belonged to the caravanistas would be taken.

While I was listening to all of this and entertaining the idea of traveling to Cuba to see it for myself, a man raised his hand and asked the question, “What are we supposed to say to the people who will just respond to this by pointing out that the Cuban government is Communist and corrupt, that they suppress dissidents, that they lack concern for human rights?”

The lecturer responded by stating that in asking that question one needs to examine two things: Where is your information coming from and what is the condition of your own government.

He stated that if we are to form an idea of what Cuba is like, we should do so critically. If our government tells us that Cuba is a threat to human rights, we should be aware of our own government’s disregard for human rights. If our government tells us that Cuba supports terrorism, we should be aware of how our government funds terrorists. If we are told that the Cuban government suppresses dissent, we should look at how, in our country, people are detained for holding signs and wearing shirts that peacefully criticize our leader.

After listening to a first-hand account of Cuba, I was certain that it is not the place our government makes it out to be.