Caribbean islanders are receiving help from both inside and outside the region in the aftermath of four hurricanes that ravaged the area in August and September.
Partnering with both the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), Caribbean Baptists are assessing needs in their own communities and distributing relief aid where it is most needed.
The Virginia Baptist Mission Board (VBMB) has a partnership with Baptist churches in the Caribbean, and has coordinated with the SBC’s International Mission Board (IMB) for deliveries of food, plastic sheeting, roofing supplies and water purifiers. VBMB is also coordinating volunteers who will help with cleanup, reconstruction and crisis counseling, according to spokesmen for the IMB.
The Bahamas, Jamaica, Grenada, Haiti and other islands were devastated by hurricanes Charley, Frances, Jeanne and Ivan, killing thousands of people and destroying homes, roads, power supplies, water treatment facilities, businesses, crops and hospitals.
A long way to go
Relief efforts are focused on Haiti and Grenada, the most severely affected of the islands, with future plans to help other areas.
While some people perished in all of the countries, Haiti had the biggest death toll with thousands from the mudslides and floods that engulfed helpless residents.
On the island of Grenada, about 90 percent of the homes were damaged by Hurricane Ivan, and many islanders are still sleeping in their cars a month after the storm.
Three of the six Baptist churches on Grenada were damaged, and three pastors’ homes were damaged or destroyed, according to Jim Brown, the IMB’s hunger and relief ministries consultant.
Vincent Wood, president of the Caribbean Baptist Fellowship (CBF) and an incoming vice president of BWA, lives in Barbados. He called his recent fact-finding trip to Grenada “an eye-opener.”
“People are trying to get their lives back together but they have a long way to go,” Wood said. The pastors in Grenada say the need is greatest for food supplies and then for building materials. Similar needs exist in the Bahamas, Jamaica, Haiti and other islands, and proposals for those relief efforts are being drawn up.
Wood has asked the Caribbean Baptist churches to designate Oct. 31 as “Disaster Relief Sunday” and collect a special offering for this cause to supplement other efforts. Baptist World Aid has already sent $30,000 to help and is appealing for funds.
Brown said the IMB’s focus is on projects with long-term benefits that will continue to minister to families after immediate needs have been met.
Assistance will be channeled through local churches and associations, and a primary focus will be to undergird the Grenada Baptist Association and the partnership between Virginia and Caribbean Baptists.
“We must let them know that we care,” Wood said. “We are in this together; we are down, but we will all rise together.”
Wood said that several unions of countries that were not affected by the hurricanes, such as Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe and Barbados, are already helping, and others have indicated their desire to do so.
For a full report of hurricane damage in the Caribbean as well as in Alabama and other parts of the United States, visit www.thealabamabaptist.org. (BP, BWA)
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