Dairys Brito Sosa graduated in Civil Engineering in 2013 at the University of Camagüey, and that same year she arrived at the Office of the Historian of Camagüey city (OHCC), through the process of granting jobs.

“OHCC has been my first and only work center so far, and both professionally and personally it has helped me grow, thanks to the responsibilities I have acquired and the people who surround me,” she says.

“I am an engineer by profession, but my first steps after graduation led me to a world that I did not know: urbanism; And far from being scared, little by little I fell in love with each study, with each elaborate procedure, but above all I fell in love with my city, ”she argues and I understand in advance a confession that she made to me later in the conversation.

She, from her work area, expressed that she was received there with all the love in the world and in return she acquired knowledge from people who are no longer there and from others who remain.

“I don’t deny it -she confesses- I have had many job offers more related to what I studied: jobs on site as an investor, even as a designer; However, I tell you from the bottom of my heart that I would not change urban planning for anything in the world”.

Opportunities…

“I have had many important moments in the institution, but the ones that have marked me the most have been the comprehensive rehabilitation of the Batey del Central Jaronú after Hurricane Irma and the revival of Presidente Gómez Boulevard in Florida.” In the execution of these projects, she was on site as an urban planner, an experience that she describes as gratifying.

“We are the first to arrive at these places to diagnose and propose possible solutions – say changes of use, incorporation of new services, road studies, etc. – and feeling the gratitude of the population is unmatched”, she affirms.

Dairys has participated in various events, workshops, symposiums, local, national and international seminars developed in Cuba. Of those moments she shares her joy and honor when she has to take a microphone and talk about her city and the OHCC.

“Sharing and exchanging with representatives from other cities is part of professional growth. My first experience representing the OHCC was at the VIII Workshop on Cuban Heritage Cities that took place in Cienfuegos in 2016. It was a challenge for me because the auditorium was full of pure urbanists and planners, but it helped me as a young person to take my first steps”.

Dairys, an engineer and lover of Camagüey’s heritage, has a daily responsibility: to preserve the city and the future of the new generations.

She recognizes it as one of her most important missions to maintain the tangible and intangible values of our city, and thus preserve the status of our Historic Center as a National Monument, and as a World Cultural Heritage Site in a fragment of that area.

“In this way, we are helping the new generations to know and fall in love with this city, and continue the work of preserving what we defend so much today,” says a young woman who today allows us to proudly celebrate International Women in Engineering Day.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García