Update - St. Vincent Community Recovery Project

GER3 continues to support recovery efforts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in response to the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano last spring. After two months of on-the-ground work, the impacts of GER3’s recovery programs are visible throughout the Sandy Bay area.

Over forty five homes have been cleared of ash and debris, allowing residents to return to their homes and rebuild their lives. In the process, over seventy people from the Sandy Bay community have received temporary income for their work on cash-for-work teams, providing livelihood support to a local economy that was decimated by the eruption. In addition, GER3’s home rehabilitation program is progressing though the final selection phase and will soon begin work on a number of homes.

Luke Punnet of Richmond Vale Academy discussing organic composting techniques with farmers.

GER3 has also launched programs targeting local farmers, whose livelihoods were severely disrupted. Though six months have passed since the eruptions subsided, farmers remain unable to sow their mountain-side plots due to unsafe access and inhospitable soil conditions, precluding even subsistence-level activities.  In response, GER3 – in partnership with Luke Punnet of Richmond Vale Academy in St. Vincent – launched an organic compositing program that will draw upon local knowledge as well as the latest scientific research to teach and to learn about organic composting methods using locally available resources like volcanic ash and sargassum. This program thus converts local resources of no or negative economic value (ash and sargassum) into fertile soil without the use of chemicals or fertilizers, while providing livelihood support to local farmers.

GER3 team members in Sandy Bay.

Notwithstanding the great progress of GER3 and its partners, much work remains and GER3 will continue to help Sandy Bay and St. Vincent build back better.

St. Vincent Community Recovery Project

“It disrupted our livelihoods. We were displaced. We were moved. Our homes were damaged. So, help is needed…help so that everyone can get back to a sense of normalcy, because right now it is not normal.”

– Hazel Ann Lavia, Sandy Bay resident and cash-for-work team supervisor. 

Recovery efforts are under way in Sandy Bay, St. Vincent and the Grenadines in response to the La Soufrière eruption thanks to funding from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and the tireless work of our local team and partners. Cash-for-work teams comprised of Sandy Bay residents are rapidly clearing volcanic ash and debris, allowing people to return to their homes and rebuild their community while also providing income to affected people.

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The La Soufrière volcano erupted explosively on April 9, 2021, blanketing northern St. Vincent in ash, displacing over 20,000 people, and damaging hundreds of homes. Heavy rains following the eruption caused lahars – violent volcanic mudslides – further damaging and destroying homes in vulnerable areas. Only in the last month has northern St. Vincent been deemed safe enough for residents to return home from emergency shelters and begin recovery efforts.

One month after launching the Sandy Bay Community Recovery Project, GER3’s cash-for-work teams have cleared ash and debris from 20 houses and provided income that will benefit not only the workers but also the broader community. As Phase I ash and debris removal work continues, we are also starting Phase II of home rehabilitation for Sandy Bay’s most vulnerable residents.  We look forward to continuing our work to help St. Vincent build back better!

LOCAL TEAM ACTIVATED IN HAITI

Assessments are underway in Camp Perrin and Les Cayes. GER³ activated a local team to assess earthquake-affected communities, determining how GER³ can best support. Debris management will be a critical part of relief and recovery efforts.

Recovery Work in Abaco Continues

Housing units attached to Marsh Harbour’s healthcare centre have been restored. The units, which previously housed essential medical personnel and staff, were badly damaged by Dorian in the fall of 2019. Essential workers have been living in RVs and trailers since. GER³, with the support of Direct Relief and Discovery Land Company Foundation, restored the six housing units, ensuring they are ready for personnel to return and are better prepared to withstand future storms.

At the same time, GER³ is leading another housing rehabilitation and capacity building project in Abaco. Despite great work by various housing support initiatives after Dorian, many homeowners are still very much in need of assistance, especially as they face another hurricane season. GER³'s project is rehabilitating eight vulnerable homes and incorporating several capacity building events for local community members to learn new techniques for building back better. Generous donors are supporting GER³ to undertake this community recovery work through September 2021.

Central Abaco Primary SChool Opening

"Today I would like to express my gratitude to the GER³ team. Thanks to GER³ and their donors, Central Abaco Primary School (CAPS) opened its doors to students and faculty on April 12, 2021, since closing, after being severely damaged by Hurricane Dorian. Students and faculty were able to return to a fully-rehabilitated, safer and sustainable school. To Mr. Reilly Dooris, Program Director and Mr. Damian Browne, Project Manager, we say thank you. To all the donors, local contractors, and community helpers who contributed to the rebuilding of CAPS through GER³, I say thank you."

-Troy Ritchie, Central Abaco Primary School Principal

GER³ is delighted to see students, faculty and staff back in school this month and appreciates the kind words of the school's principal. Our team extends its greatest thanks to all the donors, partners and local team members who contributed to the project.

Eta & Iota Response Update No. 4

GER³ continues its support to hurricane recovery work in Honduras. The team is now completing a community debris removal and cleaning project, funded by the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, providing access to the community of La Canaan in La Lima.

The streets are fully accessible and mud and debris have been cleaned out of more than 40 homes. To understand more about the needs of each family and the ongoing needs of the community at large, GER³ developed a local team to perform in-depth assessments of the community. With strong assessment data, GER³ is also coordinating and communicating with other local NGOs and entities who can complement GER³’s work and provide further support to La Canaan.

Over the past month, Vicenta, Allison, Rosa, Medeleine, Cindy and Cindy (Pink) carried out a series of community assessments for GER³ in La Canaan. The team of women went home-by-home asking questions that focused on understanding the specific situation of each family. This included information about the general formation of the family, their economic income, the infrastructural damage their home suffered due to the hurricanes, the most critical needs of the family and those of the community. The assessments also considered the status of Covid-19 and its impact on the community, especially in the field of education. In La Canaan, there are 151 children between the ages of 6 and 17 that are currently enrolled in school but have extremely limited access to means of communication or connectivity for virtual classes.

The assessment team was stunned by the vulnerability of this community. These women also live in La Lima, which was one of the areas hardest hit by the storms. They too had to clean out their homes and they too were unemployed, but seeing and experiencing the community of La Canaan put their own situations in perspective.

One of our assessment team members described her humbling experience seeing the destruction and understanding the community's basic needs for a functioning septic system, potable water, electricity and accessibility. At the same time, every member of La Canaan welcomed her and offered whatever they could, whether it was a small cup of coffee or a galleta. Knowing the assessment would lead to support to the community was both gratifying and inspiring. She ended by saying that she was very “proud to be part of this wonderful work and if I had to do it again I would do it again with all my heart.”

GER³ has nearly finished creating access to the entire community of La Canaan and has helped clean out the homes of those most severely affected. The in depth community assessments support the ongoing work in the community and also inform the future support from partner and peer NGOs and local entities.

As work in Honduras continues, there is still a lot to be done and GER³ will continue to do its best to ensure communities like La Canaan are supported.

Eta & Iota Response Update No. 3

RESPONSE & RECOVERY EFFORTS IN HONDURAS CONTINUE

GER³’s team has continued response and recovery work in Honduras, building a strong local team with a focus on debris management. Two key projects are underway while the team also continues to design additional projects and programs to expand GER³’s impact and support to the region. Affected communities face a long road to recovery and GER³ is committed to supporting wherever possible.

PRONIÑO PROJECT

The team is hard at work recovering the Proniño property outside of El Progreso. Proniño is a children’s home that helps children that have lived on the streets and/or experienced abuse, death of a parent or extreme poverty in their home by providing them with education, living space, safety and the opportunity to learn a variety of skills while socializing with other children who face similar situations. Proniño currently houses 22 boys and 7 girls and also supports 6 university students who had previously lived on the campus and now receive assistance in the form tuition and employment opportunities.

GER³'s team of nine daily workers is leading the deep cleaning of mud and debris from 15 separate buildings on the campus, including pressure washing the walls and floors to thoroughly clean the interior and exterior of each building. A local equipment operator was contracted to remove the debris, sand and mud, amounting to more than 1,125 cubic meters removed from the property to date. Local workers are working alongside the heavy machinery to remove debris where the machine cannot. In addition, the team is repairing access to the property by clearing and restoring the driveway. Gravel will be installed in the coming days to complete the finished driveway. GER³’s work at Proniño will be completed in the next week, allowing for further assessments to take place and allowing Proniño to make informed decisions regarding next steps in the rehabilitation process.

LA CANAáN COMMUNITY & HOME DEBRIS REMOVAL PROJECT

Preparations are underway for a new community project, made possible by the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP). The project will focus on community debris removal and household cleaning in La Canaán. GER³ has been working with community leaders to make sure the work will be carried out as efficiently as possible while making a significant impact. With CDP’s support, all streets in the community will be cleaned by GER³’s team and residents who have not yet been able to remove mud from their homes will be assisted. Many families from La Canaán continue to live in temporary shelters or tents along a nearby highway. Most vulnerable families will be identified, and priority will be given to make sure that they are able to get back onto their feet and return to their homes as soon as possible. GER³ is eager to support this community and these families return to their homes throughout this project.

Abaco Shelter and Home Rehabilitation Project

Following the devastation of Hurricane Dorian in September 2019, Bahamian communities have a new appreciation for hurricane preparedness. The Category 5 hurricane was unlike anything they had faced before, taking many lives and leaving entire communities devastated. As part of their recovery efforts, communities are reconsidering how to prepare for future storms.

GER³ recognized gaps in hurricane preparedness and took the opportunity to develop a program to enhance hurricane shelter capacity and community resiliency. With generous funding from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP), GER³ supported critical rehabilitation of four hurricane shelters, each of which was considered to be a cornerstone for its community and was underserved by existing recovery efforts. In addition to the physical rehabilitation of shelter structures, shelter manager trainings and emergency supplies were included to ensure a holistic approach to capacity-building and resiliency.

The project also supported 18 vulnerable households to undertake critical home repairs, accelerating their path to recovery. The homeowners were particularly vulnerable in terms of their ability to restore their homes and many were losing hope for a full recovery. At the same time, many of these homeowners continued to support their communities and help other families and people in need before themselves. Through this project, GER³ was able to work closely with these remarkable individuals, helping them make significant progress in restoring their homes and lives on Abaco.

Watch below to learn more about the shelter and home rehabilitation project.

Central Abaco Primary School Rehabilitation

Over the past year, GER³’s team in the Bahamas led the rehabilitation of the Central Abaco Primary School (CAPS), the largest public school in Abaco that was badly damaged by Hurricane Dorian. The fully-rehabilitated, safer and more sustainable school is now being handed back to the community. Thanks to a strong team of local contractors, cash-for-workers and suppliers, the classrooms are freshly renovated, the ground is clear, and the new metal roof can withstand even the strongest winds. In addition, the school has been rebuilt to meet official hurricane shelter standards and is well equipped to serve the community during future storms.

GER³ is extremely grateful for our donors including The Lyford Cay Foundations, Discovery Land Company Foundation, One Bahamas Fund, UNICEF, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, All Hands and Hearts and others who made this work possible.

Watch the story of GER3's rehabilitation of this community cornerstone through the eyes of the local community, workers, and teachers who made it possible.

Eta & Iota Response Update #2

The GER³ team continues important recovery work in Honduras in response to Hurricanes Eta and Iota. The team is currently based in San Pedro Sula and will soon be transitioning to La Lima, a more remote community in the affected areas surrounding San Pedro Sula.

Over the holidays, the team worked in a community called La Canaán located along the river near La Lima. The community had been completely flooded and was left with more than 3 feet of mud in some areas. GER³ began work on the Calle Principal (main street) to create access to the community and allow residents to return home and begin the laborious process of cleaning the mud and debris from their homes. A backhoe and multiple dump trucks did the heavy lifting, while a team of GER³ local workers assisted the machinery to reach the mud near buildings and load the debris that was found in the street. GER³ was able to clear more than 80% of the Calle Principal, allowing more than 20 families to begin cleaning out their homes.

Prior to the intervention, the entirety of La Canaán had been displaced by the hurricanes. Of the 120 families, 35 are sheltered in an elementary school in La Lima and more than 80 are making do in make-shift dwellings along the divided highway that passes near their community.

GER³’s local team also worked in a community called La 23 de septiembre. Five local workers assisted machinery in clearing debris that residents had removed from their homes, clearing the Calle Principal. In one day, the team was able to clear the entire main street, more than 200 meters, restoring vehicle access to the street and allowing more than 30 families to have full access to their homes.

GER³ continues to assess damaged communities and develop program designs for prospective projects. One upcoming project will support an orphanage called Proniño. This orphanage takes in children who were previously living on the streets across Honduras. The campus in El Progreso is home to 22 boys and 7 girls aged 6-17. All were forced to evacuate as the storm arrived and none have been able to return as the flooding left behind mud in all of their buildings and eroded the driveway to the campus. The team is looking forward to kickstarting this high impact project in the coming weeks to allow the children to return.