2021-03-31

Queens woman waiting more than a year to reunite with Cuban husband

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Mary Dahr of Port Mouton can't wait until the day she can be re-united with her husband. It's been a year and four months since they've been together in the same country.

Dahr met Eugenio Camaraza of Havana, Cuba through the online dating platform, International Cupid. They messaged back and forth for about six months before deciding to get married.

Dahr, who is 68, travelled to Cuba in September 2019. She married Camaraza, now 54, on October 1 of that year. Twenty-three days later she returned to Nova Scotia, alone.

"It's been really hard. We wouldn't have been apart for so long if he would have been able to come here, or I go down there," she said.

She's hired a lawyer to help her with applying for a visa for Camaraza to enter Canada. She said that there has been a lot of paperwork exchange hands, and once an application is filed it may take another four months before it is approved.

The COVID-19 pandemic complicated things further. "We both decided it was not worth the risk to travel."

Meanwhile, Dahr said she and Camaraza talk through online platforms every day and sometimes video chat as well.

Both have been married before. Dahr has one daughter, while Camaraza has two. He's a bus driver; Dahr, who is a retired lab tech, now works as a housekeeper at local resort.

Dahr concedes that establishing the relationship as she has might be considered as risky by some, and that, initially, it put on a strain of her relationship with her daughter.

"I thought about it and realized what sort of person he was. No Canadian men call you princess. It is not something I have regretted," said Dahr.

"We just fell in love and felt we were meant for each other. It is not always easy to find someone you really love, and they love you," she said.