Celebrating International Women's Day

March 8 was International Women's Day and we celebrated this important date with all the women of the Institute of Geology and Paleontology of Cuba.

That day we had a wonderful evening together with all the women of our work center, but the men of Knowledge Management, which is the area I deal with in the center, we had this activity reserved for them and the days following March 8 we only had today and tomorrow off and to do it next week would be too far from the date.

For these reasons we decided to celebrate this date today, Saturday, and we chose our work center taking advantage of the fact that it is Saturday and there is no staff at the center.

When to do the activity and what to do to them?
These were questions that we asked ourselves over and over again, due to the hard economic conditions that the country is going through and in which every activity or the purchase of any food is very expensive. But one thing was clear to all of us men: this day could not go unnoticed and we decided that lunch and other activities would be more than enough to have a pleasant day.

Preparing the activities

We have been working with our female colleagues for several years and we know their tastes and preferences. For example, we know that they all get excited when we do activities that go to their feelings, that the favorite meat of most of them is chicken, that most of them like music and dancing and that they prefer playful games and participatory activities where they have to put their intellect to work.

Based on the above, we designed a group of activities that we are currently developing and that we had to bring forward because it is Saturday and today is a day to be with the family, women use to wash and organize things; besides being a day when they go out for a walk with their family and to recreate.

What are we doing?

• We prepared a video of all the women showing their participation in different workshops, scientific events, self-improvement courses and other activities in which they participate.

• We bought cake, snacks and refreshments, so they could have a snack before lunch.

• We developed a game of intellectual participation mixed with things from home that we enjoyed very much.

• But, what made the most impact was a video made about each of them in which several family members, friends, workers and other people talked about their values and fundamental qualities.

• As a final part of the activity they were able to enjoy a modest lunch prepared within our means, which they were very grateful for.

All the activities were accompanied by music and jokes that enlivened the day.

Final reflection

It has not been the best of Saturdays, but it has been a different day because we have been able to share an International Women's Day. Here I said in the opening words of the activity that it is a mistake to dedicate a day to Love and Women because their days are all the days that share the almanac. But it is true that each of these days has its origins and must be respected.

What we experienced today was the realization and importance of the need we have for moments like these. Life is too short, hard and beautiful to let it pass us by and not feed us with moments like these that make our existence more bearable.

Maybe next year the economic situation of the country will be better and we will be able to give something better to our co-workers. For the time being they are having fun and thankful for, according to them, dedicating such a nice activity to them.

Note: The photos were taken with my Samsung J2 phone.