Havana Roots for Cuba: Medical Supplies for the Island We Love
We’re Havana Roots — a Dublin-based band in love with Cuban and reggae music.
Cuba is facing its worst humanitarian crisis in a generation. After 65 years of US embargo, a new fuel blockade has deepened the economy into collapse, pushing the island’s once-admired healthcare system to a breaking point. Hospitals are running out of syringes, antibiotics, and surgical supplies. Over 96,000 surgeries have been postponed, including for an estimated 11,000 children. Families are being told to bring their own bandages and medicines to A&E — if they can find them at all.
This isn’t abstract for us. Cuba is where the music that inspires us comes from — the tres, the son, the rhythms we play. We’ve learned from watching Cuban musicians, sung Cuban songs, and shared Cuban classics with Irish audiences.
That’s why we’re running this fundraising campaign. Havana Roots isn’t a charity — we’re a band using our voice, our gigs, and our community to raise money for the people who need it most right now.
Where your donation goes
Funds raised go directly to Jacob’s Well Appeal, a UK-registered charity that has been sending medical aid abroad since 1984. Jacob’s Well has shipped surgical instruments, infusion pumps for chemotherapy, colostomy bags, wheelchairs, hospital beds, and PPE directly to Cuban hospitals.
Every euro you give helps ship real, tangible supplies to real hospitals. Not overheads. Not promises. Medical aid in a box, on a container, on its way to Havana.
Our partners on the ground
Lately we’ve been regularly in touch with John from Jacob’s Well Appeal, who is excited to collaborate with us on this fundraising campaign. Having the charity directly behind us means every donation moves swiftly from your hands to the hospitals that need it.
We’re also honoured to have Alan Beare helping us source medical supplies. Alan previously worked with Aid for the Caribbean (A4C), a UK charity that sends medical supplies — catheters, stoma bags, wound care products, syringes, wheelchairs, and walkers — to hospitals in Cuba, working alongside local partners like the Quisicuaba Project in Havana. Alan has been on the front line of Cuba solidarity work for years, and his experience connecting donations to hospitals that need them is invaluable to us.
How you can help
- Donate — any size of contribution is important. Every euro buys real medical supplies for real hospitals. To donate click here
- Share the campaign on social media with family and friends. Word of mouth is how this reaches the people who’ll care.
¡Gracias, go raibh míle maith agaibh, and thank you. Let’s get this container moving.
— Havana Roots 🇮🇪🎶🇨🇺