Back safe and sound from our first trip down to Anse La Verdure and Canaries.
The jeep arrived here at Coubaril at 9:00 and after signing all the
documents Gail and I headed down to the government warehouse to
purchase rice, flour and sugar in 100 lb. bags. We were met at the
warehouse and shown to the office by one of the workers who assured us
we would not be left to carry the bags. We were joking but it turned
out that the workers were refusing to load any goods in protest until
the government provided them with drinking water.
After some talking and the promise of water tablets to purify the
water they I, several of the men agreed to load our 4 bags.
Unfortunately, this did not include flour as they had none in the
warehouse.
With 300 lbs of rice and 100 lbs of sugar we headed down island. In several places one lane of the road was missing but the other lane was clear with no traffic. Heading down into Marigot and
the Rouseau Valley we saw more landslides and huge trees that all
closed part of the road.
Anse La Raye was in quite good shape and had already been cleaned up.
I stopped at the Infant School and walked through the site. They have
obviously done a lot of work and the school looked ready to reopen.
Unfortunately, no one was there to speak with so I will try again
tomorrow on our way through.
Climbing our of Anse La Raye there were a few small slips, as they
call them here, but nothing major. However, as we began to descend
into the Anse Gallet river valley we could see the reality of what had
happened. The entire valley had been flooded, then left full of silt
and debris. The river had changed course and was now flowing over the
road instead of under the bridge. There was vey little water getting
through because of all the debris and silt higher up...This seems to
be the case in many of the rivers.
There were several more landslides as we headed on to Anse La Verdure
and we could see how much effort it had taken just to create one
passable lane. Traffic was very light so we made good time. There
was another major landslide at "Snake Corner" where there was a major
slip 2 years ago. This was the area that the media had identified as
Plac Kassav. As we turned the corner and headed up to Plac Kassav we
were relieved to see that the water works was intact and that there
had been no slip in this area at all.
As we pulled into the village we were greeted by Garvey smiling shyly
with Mario close behind. Soon we were getting hugs from Billy and
Joe, Nicole with Nicoli, D'Andrea, Michaela, Simon, Leona and Simon.
We parked and walked down to Sandra's house to assure ourselves that
all the houses were fine and to get a big hug from Sandra. After
unloading the bags into Simon's shop, we headed down to Canaries with
Sandra to visit the schools and see the damage first hand.
There were several more landslide areas on route but again the road
had been well cleared to allow vehicles to pass. We didn't really
become aware of the extent of the devastation until we turn off the
main road and headed down to the Infant School. I am not sure I can
find the words to describe what I saw. I have taken lots of pictures
but I don't think that they will really give you a sense of the mess
things are in.
The playing field beside the school, if mounded with mud and sand.
The net ball court where the literacy carnival took place has been
shovelled off and mounds of mud now cover the fences on all sides and
spill onto the court. The courtyard of the school at the back has
about 3-4 feet of mud and sand with huge ruts where some effort was
made to move the muck. Someone has shovelled the mud from the bottom
of the steps at the computer lab and our resource room and black water
has pooled there. Until this part of the school, called the annex
there is about 18" of muck.
Walking through the rooms of the main building was a very upsetting
experiencing. Hanging from the ceiling there were brightly coloured
butterflies that moved in the breeze. There were also a few banners
and posters high up on the walls. There was then a mud stain that
rose about 2' from the floor, covered the desks and chairs, and any of
the books and resources lying about.
In one room I found 3 stuffed bears lying face down covered in mud.
In another I found one of bins of resources had survived unscathed
because it had been put on top of a desk in the upper classroom.
Another one of our resource bins was out in the alleyway splattered
with mud inside and out.
I spoke briefly to Simona Jn Batiste, the principal of the Infant
School and we agreed to meet tomorrow morning to discuss the extent of
the loss and to go through the library and resource room to assess
what can be salvaged. Simona admitted she was exhausted and
disappointed. The Ministry of Education continues to say the schools
will be open on Monday but no one from Castries had come down to view
the situation. They had sent a contractor down today to give them a
price to power wash the building. However, in several places there
are already large holes in the walls. Power washing may well create
more damage in these areas.
We have been able to source out flour for tomorrow from a small market
in Marigot so we will purchase 4, 100 lb bags there tomorrow. We will
distribute 200 lbs in our village and take the other 200 lbs to
Canaries as we know they have no flour to distribute right now. I
spoke briefly with Magdelene Gervais( Miss Paul) today and we will
meet up tomorrow to discuss distribution of flour and how else we
might help.
I happened to meet with the pre-school teacher and received the good
news that we have a building. It is the old health centre. There
will have to be a lot more discussion before the school can open but
it was certainly something we have been waiting for.
Returning to Coubaril late this afternoon, I feel such a range of
emotions. I am so relieved to see so many of our campers, women,
teachers and students. Our village of Anse La Verdure was very
fortunate but everyone recounted how fearful they were as the winds
and rain pounded them for 23 hours. After seeing the damage in
Canaries, I am so grateful that no one was killed and so encouraged to
see how well the village has united to begin the process of cleaning
up and rebuilding. As I listened to folks recounting their
experiences however, I am aware that there is more damage than what we
can see on the surface. These folks will need lots of opportunities
to share their fears and talk through their experiences. Some of the
younger children do not really seem to be aware of the immensity of
what has happened but for some of the older children and many of the
adults they have been traumatized.
Please pray that there will be opportunities for folks to share their
fears with others willing to listen and that there will be sensitivity
among those in positions of responsibility. Pray too that good
decisions will be made regarding the return to school and especially
the quick start up of the school feeding programs.
Blessings to all;
Auntie Shel
--
Michelle Anderson
No comments:
Post a Comment