Patricia Dillon's blog

14/10/2008

I'm back in the UK now.

It's odd being back to normal life - where have all the people I've lived and worked with so closely for a whole month all gone? It feels really strange not to be with them! I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to work with such a fabulous bunch of people. It's been a challenging month but also a very fascinating and rewarding one.

I must stay that working in an emergency, seeing how it affects people's lives and seeing what a difference a basic mosquito net or water purification tablets can make in such a context, I feel even more motivated to fundraise...a recycled mobile phone is 2 jerrycans for a family to have a means to getting clean water, an online donation becomes 10 homes with leaking roofs temporarily repaired with tarpaulins...

All the very best, Patricia x

26/09/2008

So I visited Grand Turk the other day. What a flurry of activity; our volunteers have been working incessantly for three weeks, first looking after shelters in which people sought refuge from the hurricane and then distributing relief items to those affected. Driving through the island one can tell a lot of work has been done to clear the roads but that there’s still much to be done to get back to normality.

On the way to one of the distribution points, Terry, one of our volunteers, tells me the story of an elderly couple in their 80’s. The night of the hurricane they were sheltering in their own home, all the windows were boarded up, they couldn’t see what was happening outside but could hear all the commotion and the deafening noise. All of a sudden they started losing the room they were staying in to the hurricane. As water was pouring in, they had to quickly move to another room. She had lost the walking stick she depended on after her recent stroke, so he had to somehow help her get to the next room. And then it happened again, and they had to move to the next room, and then a third time. Luckily, they are both safe and didn’t suffer any injuries although their house now needs to be completely restored. Can you imagine how terrifying this whole experience must have been for them?

We stop by a small cluster of people by a house in one of the less developed areas in Grand Turk. I meet Miriam. The night before the hurricane struck, Miriam, together with her husband, left what used to be her house to take refuge in one of her friend’s more solid homes. When she returned, she found her house had been flattened by the sheer force of Hurricane Ike.

Helped by one of their neighbours, Miriam and her husband built a makeshift house out of old recycled plywood boards; a shack really, about 3 x 2.5 metres, no windows, just a small door through which one can see their bed and, at its feet, a pile of items she salvaged once the hurricane had died down. She holds up a corner of a mosquito net she folded behind the bed. She tells me ‘the Red Cross has been here to help lots last week and gave me food and water and also this mosquito net. There are so many mosquitoes after the hurricane; it’s great to have a mosquito net to protect ourselves.’

23/09/2008

We are working very closely with the leaders of communities here on the islands. We're asking questions like "Who are the people or families who were severely affected by the disaster and are least able to recover from its impact using their own means?"

Many people are resilient and have the strength or the economic means to get back on their feet, but others aren't. And it's these people who we want to, and must, focus our efforts on, the most vulnerable. Those who are perhaps less able, isolated or elderly, for example, and need a bit more support.

We showed the community leaders the different kits we will be distributing – the tools, hygiene products and cooking utensils we received last week. They were impressed. I was proud.

Tomorrow I'm going to Grand Turk to meet some people from areas most affected by the hurricanes.

17/09/2008

I’d like to thank everyone for their comments. I really appreciate it that people are reading my blog.

I’m sorry that a couple people feel so strongly about my blogs. They were never meant to be offensive to anyone, just my personal impressions of experiencing a hurricane.

As far as the situation in the office is concerned, perhaps I wasn’t detailed enough. I would be happy to further clarify that we were in an office which was also being used as a shelter by us and that the other people in the office were staff from the Department of Disaster Management and their families, and that together a safe evacuation was made.

Thank you to everyone for your comments. I will try to keep up the blog as best I can.

For now, here’s an update on what I’ve been working on this week.

It’s been a real long week. Ina and I are looking at each other wondering how tired one can look! But then we look at how devastating the situation is for many people living on these beautiful islands and the tiredness becomes nothing in comparison. The more so when we see how hard the volunteers work to help the affected communities.

It is an enormous honour to work with such dedicated and caring group of people. Everyone by now is at stretch with their energy, including us. But it is worth it, driving through Grand Turk and seeing that the tarpaulins we are providing keep the rain out of people's homes.

With the support of our Red Cross colleagues in London, Panama and the Caribbean, we flew in items of immediate need right after Ike passed the islands. These are items such as tarpaulins, jerry cans, water purification tablets and mosquito nets. Their distribution is well under way while we are expecting another flight bringing in items like tools and cooking utensils that will help rebuild people’s lives.

Thank you to all who are supporting and encouraging us, it's great to hear from you.

09/09/2008

Our first aid flight arrives today. We’re in desperate need of basic items like tarpaulins, mosquito nets, water purification tablets. We’ve got stocks in Panama in case of emergency, luckily, so thankfully now the airport is open again we can get the stuff in. We’ll need a lot more, but this will help us a make a start.

I’m working with some brilliant volunteers. This is a tight-knit community, and people really want to help. I’ve got to find a building to act as a warehouse once the stocks arrive, and I’m training volunteers to act as warehouse staff. I’ve had lot of phone calls of people offering to help, people are being really hands on.