A different kind of Sandy in Jamaica
Jamaica is famous for Sandy beaches. That meant an entirely different thing for the island when hurricane Sandy barreled through on the eastern side of the island during the middle of last week. Unfortunately, one elderly man lost his life in the storm. I have not heard of other fatalities in Jamaica tied to Hurricane Sandy. However, the damage reported in three parishes (St. Mary, Portland, and St. Thomas) is extensive.
I have talked with a pastor who lives in St. Andrew, north of Kingston. Even there the damage is very bad. Many residents in that area rely on public transportation to take them on a 45 minute ride down into the city for work. Since Wednesday last week they've been stranded without power or running water. The road is blocked to the city still and they don't expect power to return for at least another week. This pastor shared with me that his church buildings are safe and undamaged, but that many of his church members lost roofs in the storm.
The loss of roofs seems to be a common theme as I continue to investigate and connect with leaders across the island. Another pastor who is the director of the Jamaica Baptist Union's mission agency shared with me that about fifteen of the denomination's churches lost roofs as a result of the storm. 15! That's a lot of damage. If you've ever been to Jamaica we're talking about some really big church buildings and really detailed construction on roofs. Many others have shared with me that roofs were blown off. It's not surprising considering the fact that when one drives through the country zinc roofs can be seen often held down simply by cinder blocks sitting on top of the roof rather than properly secured with an adequate amount of roofing nails...
Jamaica now enters a time of recovery. Residents are pitching in and cleaning up and trying to make the roadways usable again. Portland was declared a state of emergency by the parish's member of Parliament, and St. Thomas has numerous destroyed homes. Many have been left homeless and many more will be considered poor after losing so much as a result of the storm. The damage could be much worse. Most persons I've talked with are thankful that they are still alive and that the storm didn't do more damage.
Please pray for our brother's and sisters in Jamaica. Pray for churches and congregations as they recover and for entire communities.
I will be carefully assessing how Praying Pelican Missions can assist as recovery efforts surely will last well into 2013. I wish we had a pile of money sitting around to send to the island and to bless churches with, but we're not there yet. It is my dream that someday that fund is available and we can say "ok, let's send $500,000.00 to the Jamaica Baptist Union or to the ministry of education." So, for now, we pray and we keep those in Jamaica on our mind and carefully consider the proper response and how we can continue to support pastors, churches, schools and community across the island.
If you are interested in providing some financial support to our partner churches, please contact me or go to "The Need" tab at the top of this page.
A couple news articles about the storm in Jamaica:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121030/lead/lead1.html
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Sandy-s-debt-relief-opportunity_12867879
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=40854
I have talked with a pastor who lives in St. Andrew, north of Kingston. Even there the damage is very bad. Many residents in that area rely on public transportation to take them on a 45 minute ride down into the city for work. Since Wednesday last week they've been stranded without power or running water. The road is blocked to the city still and they don't expect power to return for at least another week. This pastor shared with me that his church buildings are safe and undamaged, but that many of his church members lost roofs in the storm.
The loss of roofs seems to be a common theme as I continue to investigate and connect with leaders across the island. Another pastor who is the director of the Jamaica Baptist Union's mission agency shared with me that about fifteen of the denomination's churches lost roofs as a result of the storm. 15! That's a lot of damage. If you've ever been to Jamaica we're talking about some really big church buildings and really detailed construction on roofs. Many others have shared with me that roofs were blown off. It's not surprising considering the fact that when one drives through the country zinc roofs can be seen often held down simply by cinder blocks sitting on top of the roof rather than properly secured with an adequate amount of roofing nails...
Jamaica now enters a time of recovery. Residents are pitching in and cleaning up and trying to make the roadways usable again. Portland was declared a state of emergency by the parish's member of Parliament, and St. Thomas has numerous destroyed homes. Many have been left homeless and many more will be considered poor after losing so much as a result of the storm. The damage could be much worse. Most persons I've talked with are thankful that they are still alive and that the storm didn't do more damage.
Please pray for our brother's and sisters in Jamaica. Pray for churches and congregations as they recover and for entire communities.
I will be carefully assessing how Praying Pelican Missions can assist as recovery efforts surely will last well into 2013. I wish we had a pile of money sitting around to send to the island and to bless churches with, but we're not there yet. It is my dream that someday that fund is available and we can say "ok, let's send $500,000.00 to the Jamaica Baptist Union or to the ministry of education." So, for now, we pray and we keep those in Jamaica on our mind and carefully consider the proper response and how we can continue to support pastors, churches, schools and community across the island.
If you are interested in providing some financial support to our partner churches, please contact me or go to "The Need" tab at the top of this page.
A couple news articles about the storm in Jamaica:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121030/lead/lead1.html
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Sandy-s-debt-relief-opportunity_12867879
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=40854
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