Yusley Izquierdo: “The education we provide our daughters stars with affection”

Yusley Izquierdo Sierra strives every day to be a father capable of educating through affection and transmitting security and confidence to his young daughters Amalia and Adriana.

“Being a father implies a lot of responsibility, but it is also the greatest pleasure I experience,” says this young broadcaster, scriptwriter and radio programme director, who lives in the province of Pinar del Río, in western Cuba.

Yusley knows there are different ways of raising children. However, he does not believe in formulas or recipes because “each parent is unique.” Yet, where he admits no qualms in his way of appreciating parenthood is in the certainty that “nothing is more important for a child than the affection of his or her father (and mother).”

In this regard, he adds: “Affection is the basis for building a strong and lifelong relationship.” For him, it is also vital to understand the father’s role “not only as an obligation or duty, but as the responsibility of bringing up a human being who will later give back to society much of what we are capable of teaching them.”

Radio girls?

Yusley walks a little slower than usual because Amalia is sitting on his shoulders. Meanwhile, Claudia – his mate - holds Adriana and they walk towards a group of colleagues. They have just arrived at one of the sessions of the Encuentro de Jóvenes Radialistas La Vuelta Abajo (Radio Youth Forum.)

As the founder and main organiser of the event, Yusley doesn’t miss a single detail of what’s going on. These are hectic days and he has less time for the girls; hence, he seeks for alternatives. “When space allows, we include them in what we do,” he says. 

For his daughters, especially the eldest, the creative scenes where their dad (and their journalist mum) work have long since ceased to be strange. In general, the two little girls are well known in the fields of young art and radio in Pinar del Río. This is because spending as much time as possible with them is a priority for Yusley, even if it is a constant challenge to reconcile tasks in the daily routine.

“It is not an easy task. Work and daily life impose a rhythm that usually demands time away from the family, so I try to make sure that we also share these professional spaces,” he explains.

In Pinar del Río, one of the six provinces with the lowest rate of paternal participation in educational and care activities according to MICS Cuba, 2019, fathers like the protagonist of this story break the mould and contribute to showing the necessary positive examples.

“Being a father means participating in the upbringing and not to giving material things away for mum to take care of. I think it is important to be part of the process from the planning stage and then, at every moment we must be part of it,” he says.

In this regard, he emphasises the daily realities he believes must be changed. “For instance, a medical appointment is not for the woman alone, nor is it for a friend, grandmother or relative to accompany her. The medical appointment is for the two parents.”

Later, when the offspring is born, Yusley believes that the father’s role is even more essential because in those early years “you have to help them discover the world, learn about their abilities, explore sensations.”

He reveals that his happiest moments with Amalia and Adriana are “those when they achieve new things, when they start to stand on their own two feet. Seeing them smile at what they do brings me indescribable satisfaction.”

Being a father also brings along fears, doubts and insecurities that are part of a continuous learning process. “When it comes to correcting negative behaviour, I always experience a lot of feelings, and I question myself a lot whether I'm doing it right.”

Talking a lot with each other and with other parents, reading, looking for information and, of course, always thinking that love and affection are the best guides, are part of the resources they use at home to calm anxieties around moments of tension.

In addition, Yusley participates in a group of parents who have been sharing workshops and talks about their experiences for the last three years, mostly online, but also in face-to-face settings. These spaces are part of the actions of the Father-from-the-Beginning Campaign, which since 2018 has been coordinated by the Ministry of Education, in partnership with the Ministry of Public Health, the Ibero-American and African Network of Masculinities (RIAM) and UNICEF in Cuba.

He believes “the campaign deserves all the support it can get. In today’s society, the father is still relegated to the role of provider or to correct behaviour. Changing these attitudes requires a lot of work and awareness-raising.”

In his case, his commitment to responsible fatherhood has prompted him to include the topic in the two most recent editions of the Encuentro de Jóvenes Radialistas La Vuelta Abajo in 2021 and 2022. “Radio is fundamental if we want to address the issue differently. In general, a lot can be done through culture.”

With the certainty that he will continue contributing through his personal example and his professional spaces, this young father affirms that “we still need to make fatherhood more visible. We must address this topic in the media and the arts, which are essential channels for dialogue with men.”