|
By Laura Ann Phillips - LWC
Member
Miss Gertrude may sleep a little
easier now. At 75, the widow
faced Hurricane Ivan with only her scrawny ginger kitten for company. Now,
she faces a future as part of a wider community that cares.
We went to see her after one of the members of Living Water Community's
(LWC) Trinidad construction team - in Grenada to help with construction work
who, after work the previous day, had gone 'exploring' the neighbourhood.
He'd been attracted by the incredible sight of a little wooden house on
stilts with only two walls standing. Miss Gertrude had allowed him to come
up to see the rest of her house. She'd sat on the bed, he said, and,
immediately, streams of water issued out from the corners like a squeezed
dish sponge. That was where she slept night after night, rainy or starry.
When we found her, she was washing a few pieces of clothing in the inky
depths of a bucket, in the under room formed by the wooden posts that held
up her house. She had got the water from a neighbour a few doors down, after
another neighbour stopped allowing her to use his garden tap. There's still
water in the mains, but not everyone was fortunate enough to remain
connected.
To get to Miss Gertrude's hillside home, just ten minutes away from
Grenville's commercial area, we first had to scramble through a spaghetti of
electric cables - thanking God that the island's electricity supply was not
yet up - and over a fallen lamp post, nearly a foot in circumference, which
stretched out across the access to her yard, the bottom of the hill. Once
over, one landed on the first of almost 15 stones and roots that jutted out
from the steep incline, which formed steps up the 'path' to her home.
Miss Gertrude polite enough, considering that Ivan had left only her
bed, a few battered pairs of shoes, a picture of the Sacred Heart - still
hanging on a wall that now stood at a 35 degree angle - a vase of silk
flowers and a few dresses. She tried bravely to recount what had happened
the night that Ivan struck, but finally ended in tears, the reality of no
food, running water, resources or support finally taking their toll.
But, she was able to smile later that day, when more of the construction
team came to assess the damage to her house, and promised assistance in
rebuilding. And, a few days later, as she stood beside a truck that was
being loaded with galvanise and lumber for the project, her excitement was
almost palpable.
"I like how all you move," she smiled. "All you move real good with
mih."
Through the kindness of many agencies and individuals, LWC has been able
to send almost half a million TT dollars in aid to Grenada, and teams of
volunteers to help with distributing food and clothing, and rebuilding
spirits and structures in an island in which everything that could go wrong,
already has.
TOP TO BOTTOM
More than 20 years after the coup, Grenada continues to nurture a strong
communist element. Against such a background, Hurricane Ivan was seen by
many as 'the great leveller'. Within the first hours of its onslaught, as
villagers and squatters were fleeing their twisted, crumbling shacks, the
island's Governor General and the First Family were running for cover,
according to media reports, and the official residence of the Prime Minister
was destroyed. Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Church, Monsignor Cyril
La Montagne, whose own residence was severely damaged, observed that the
looting of homes and businesses that began while Ivanšs winds still howled,
may have been spurred by hopes of attaining that long-elusive 'equality'.
"We have had four years of communism, and the people who were children
then are adults now," said the Monsignor. "After that time, things became
very unequal; there was a wide gap between the 'haves' and 'have nots'.
"Many people are saying that Ivan has levelled everything: I have not,
so I'm looting and stealing'. And stealing with a kind of anger," he mused.
Speaking about the widespread looting of supermarkets and warehouses, an
angry Upper Lucas Street resident, just down the hill from the official
Governor General's residence, said, "I'm very ashamed of my people. If they
had left everything there would have been enough to feed everyone for one
month!"
The early looting was part of the reason that CARICOM troops and others
from various territories were sent in early. By Wednesday, a combined camp
had been established less than a mile east of the Point Salines Airport in
the island's west coast, and various troops assigned areas of
responsibility. Their peacekeeping efforts combined with a state-enforced
curfew have, so far, quelled further civil misbehaviour.
AID DISTRIBUTION
 The
week after Hurricane Ivan pounded Grenada, the Living Water
Community sent its first team to the island to take emergency food, water
clothing and construction materials, and to assess the damage. In those
first days when the island was slowly shaking itself, it was tough going for
the team to get around the island and the people who were only just
realising the extent of the destruction.
"People have to understand that Grenada is on hold in the sense that
everything is hard to do," said Rose Jackman, Co-Founder of the Community
and head of the initial Trinidad mission to Grenada. "It takes time to do
everything. And everything costs money!"
Many groups, organisations and governments have come to Grenada's aid;
International Red Cross trucks distributing food in various villages is a
common sight. However, one of the internal weaknesses of the national
distribution framework is that, as yet, there has been no government
initiative to co-ordinate the distribution efforts of the various
organizations currently at work in Grenada. Because each group works so
independently, there is no way of knowing exactly who's doing what, and
where.
The Catholic Church, however, has tried to put some order in its aid
distribution efforts. In the second week of her mission, Jackman attended a
diocesan meeting in the second week after the hurricanešs passing, to hammer
out a plan.
"Each parish has been given a contact person," she reported afterward,
"and allotted stuff to be distributed. They each have sheets of
accountability for what's given out. So, if you're given ten thousand items
and you give out four thousand, you say who's been given. You need to be
accountable, especially for big items."
The main storage area for aid sent through the Church is the residence
of Bishop of Grenada, Vincent Darius, in St George, in the island's south
western corner. The Mount St Ervan Retreat Centre in Grenville on the
island's west coast is the second area to which aid is sent for storage and
distribution.
Jackman and her team went to Grenada a few short days after the
hurricane passed. When LWC's first team had newly arrived, said Jackman,
people were still traumatised by Ivan's battering. "People were still in
shock, still in denial," she recalled. "They needed someone to say it's okay
and that there is hope. We are given that (hope) by Cross International and
religious communities; also Food for the Poor and CARITAS are coming to
help, so is an Irish congregation. Many, many people are coming to help."
And many have.
MOUNT ST ERVAN - A NEW COMMUNITY
By the weekend after Ivan bulldozed through, the first LWC team
 from
Trinidad was sent to help with aid distribution and reconstruction. They
stayed first in a private residence in St George's, then briefly at the
Bishop's residence before settling at Mount St Ervan Retreat House in
Grenville in the east - a 50 minute drive through the Gran Etang, the
mountain range that stretches lazily, treacherously through the belly of the
island.
The retreat house is run by the Eternal Light Community, a
Trinidad-based Catholic charismatic community. Three of their missionaries
live there: Gwen Alexander, Menita Neverson, and Grenada-born Christopher
Munro. They'd spent the hurricane huddled together in a small larder with
their dog.
A large part of the roof of the retreat house was damaged, and many of
the trees in its six-acre expanse were blown over, including several of its
royal palms, lying stretched out at angles to each other across the front
lawn. They add to the other debris left by the front chapel that was
destroyed and bits of wood, galvanise, concrete and branches.
Because of the retreat centre's role in providing aid to the surrounding
area, the Living Water team began repairs to it immediately. Once the
building is secured, the team intends to work on reconstructing homes in the
village and wider area, focussing on helping those lacking the resources and
skill to help themselves.
After the initial LWC team, others joined and succeeded them, including
members of LWC's Barbados community. The Eternal Light Community in Trinidad
has also sent volunteers.
Only the main building was blessed with a 24-hour water supply; the
retreatant's part of the building did not. In the absence of electricity,
LWC-sourced generators powered the roofers' tools and refrigerators, though
not the freezers. The part of the building housing the retreatants' rooms
was supplied with electricity from dusk to 9 pm.
The mission evolved day by day, as situations changed, and events
happened. Transport was planned and found for those going to and from the
airport, deliveries to those unable to walk up the hill for their food
parcels were organised - all outings timed to fall within the dusk to dawn
curfew, since moved to 9 pm to 5 am.
Apart from work done on the roof, days were spent washing and
drying linens made mouldy from the damp left since Ivan. Bonfires were lit
on the grounds and fed with combustible debris and the kitchen kept busy
with preparing three meals for more than 20 volunteers and, at times,
villagers.
Donated clothing was re-sorted and
packed. Food parcels made up of basic food items and toiletries were
prepared and packed - 175 per week on average. Some food items could be
readily included
in these parcels others - such as flour, salt, dried peas and bean, powdered
milk and oil - needed to be bagged or bottled out. And, if it rained, all
action stopped to cope with the fallout.
Day by day, anxious eyes gazed skyward - as do most eyes in Grenada now
- looking for that suspicious bit of cloud that could portend another day of
catching and bailing and sweeping out torrents of water that flowed through
the roofless rooms. Rain also spelt bad news for the roofers, who then
suspended their work, not just until the rain stops, but until the roof
dries sufficiently to walk about safely on it.
Frantic females would brave the first showers, scrambling their precious
load from the clothes lines lest their morning spent labouring over buckets
and basins, rubbing and scrubbing, be in vain.
In the beginning, the early teams were a varied lot. A chef, a painter,
a plumber, two roofers, a soldier, combined with missionaries, a tourist,
housewives, teachers and administrative minds. Whomever the Lord sent, were
used and, as it turned out, well-suited to whatever needed to be done.
CONCLUSION
The day before Rose Jackman left Grenada, almost three weeks after
Ivan's onslaught, she noted, "People are picking up. They're beginning to
think there's hope, like the trees that are now sending out leaves. They're
now beginning to look at long-term development."
Signs of that have already begun.
Already, teams from the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission
(T&TEC) have been spotted servicing downed poles and lines in various areas.
The Grenada Cablevision Limited have begun repairs and re-installation,
giving themselves a head start when electricity is restored. Communications
may be improved as both Cable and Wireless and Digicel offer enticing
packages for aspiring or existing mobile phone users. Grenadians have
accepted their offers, flocking their offices from the beginning to the
close of the business day. Bulldozers have been actively clearing roads
blocked by boulders, fallen trees, and unlikely impediments such as boats
and houses.
Sunday 03rd October was declared 'National Clean Up Day' and truck
owners were encouraged to make their vehicles available in their districts,
and people asked to collect debris that couldn't be recycled and burn them
or place them at the side of the roads for collection. The response was
quite positive in downtown St Georgešs and in villages along the Gran Etang,
through to the island's east.
Many people yet remain traumatised by Ivan's battering, and so, the
Catholic Church in Grenada will establish counselling centres, with the
assistance of the Trinidad and Tobago Psychological Association.
Bit by bit, the island is doing what it can to rebuild or restore what
was lost. Bit by bit, the people are coming to terms with what must be done,
while facing an uncertain future. One thing is certain, Grenada cannot do it
alone.
The day we met Gertrude, two of the ladies in our team took her
blackened laundry back to the retreat house and washed it all by hand,
returning it to her the following day. That was one very small act, but that
may be how Grenada will be re-built in the end - one small act of kindness
at a time.
(October 2004)
|
