My brother Sam French and his family have lived near the beach in Puerto Rico for 45 years. Many hurricanes have passed over. For the first time, they may face an evacuation order today as Irma bears down. There is fear in PR. My extended family is full of anxiety for their safety.
After Puerto Rico, Irma will visit Hispaniola.
The EcoVillages of the central plateau of Haiti are about to be hit if current projections bear out. The good news is that the 60 families should be safe in their reinforced concrete homes. They have a school that opened this week for the new year. Now, every grade has their own classroom. The Haiti EcoVillage School Partnership has partnered with them to improve their lives in this way.
The news may not be so good for their livelihoods. Families live garden-to-mouth from the food they grow in the ½ acre outside their front doors. Mark Hare describes their gardens as “their grocery store, pantry and refrigerator combined.”
In addition, each village has planted new cash crops of moringa or cassava & peanuts, while 3 villages have built enclosures and bought goats to raise funds to support the school. Our partnership has funded these cash crops by providing loans through their credit union.
When hurricane Mathew devastated the western part of Haiti 10 months ago, winds were strong enough in the central plateau to disturb their gardens and make it harder to feed their families. Irma is on a more direct path. I can only imagine the fear in Haiti, too. I feel anxiety for their well-being.
In April we met all of the women of the EcoVillage households as Jeanine Calia shook hands with each as she passed out gift boxes sent from women in Atlanta. Everyone of village women is a survivor of the 2010 earthquake (and years in tent cities) that deprived them of everything they had. Their faces show the strain from living always on the edge. They are tough. They are resilient. They will survive Irma, too. The unknown is what toll it will take on them.
I invite you, as you go through your day, to think of these friends. See their faces in your mind. Embrace their fear with them. I admire their toughness, their resilience. I will accompany them as best I can from the comforts of my home. And, when the storm moves on toward our homeland and we feel the fear and anxiety for ourselves, I will remember them. I hope you will, too.
Gordon French