Long-term Resilience Building in Dominica

On 20th September 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, devastating the island. Winds of over 150mph and torrential rain, felled trees, decimated buildings and removed roofs from homes. Hurricane Maria is reported to have caused approximately $90 billion in damage; destroyed 230,000 homes; and caused over 60 direct fatalities with numbers of deaths rising to nearly 4,000 in the proceeding months.

El Real, a small community located in the Patillas municipality of Puerto Rico, was hit hard by the storm. In the aftermath, residents were without electricity for eight months, and their water system’s reliance on electricity left them without safe drinking water as well. IsraAID arrived in El Real shortly after Hurricane Maria, and has since been working alongside the community not only to recover, but to build back better toward increased resilience.

Over the last year, IsraAID Puerto Rico, in partnership with the Inter American University of Puerto Rico (IAUPR) and the El Real Water Committee, have completed the construction of a slow-sand, gravity-based filtration system in an effort to provide safe drinking water to the community of El Real in Patillas, Puerto Rico. As of October 2019, the filter’s net turbidity units are consistently under 1.0, in accordance with the range required by the Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, IsraAID and its partners are working to mitigate long-term staffing challenges; the water filtration system requires daily cleaning, but the area suffers from a dearth in water operators, and as such, the municipal order against the community by the EPA and the Department of Health remains. To address this challenge, IsraAID and its partners are providing a 40-hour water operators course to 5 local community members, aiming to build their capacity toward this need, and hope create a paid, part-time position to fulfill this role. Additional water and hygiene management training sessions took place earlier this year, with a second planned before the end of 2019, to bolster community awareness of essential practices towards safe water access. Other milestones include the construction of a hurricane-resistant roof to protect the bio-film that cleans the water and is essential to the filter’s use, an essential disaster risk reduction measure ahead of future disasters, should they occur.

In addition to this Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene project, IsraAID is in an ongoing process of creating emergency management plans with the residents of El Real. Recently, the old school of El Real, now vacant, was identified by the mayor as an ideal site for a community center that will double as an emergency shelter for any future disasters. The building has been professionally cleaned and its structural integrity approved by local architects for use as a shelter. The next step is to make the interior of the building an inviting and warm place for the community to congregate. Once the building is ready, IsraAID will support local leaders in creating emergency protocol in case of a disaster, and stocking the center with necessary supplies. With hurricane season on its way, preparing and outfitting the community shelter is urgently needed.

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“[Now, two years after Hurricane Maria,] we aren’t really an organization that is here to build structures . . . We are here to build the programming that will last beyond another storm — the things that get Dominicans through the next disaster on that bedrock level.”

I admit, I was initially unsatisfied when IsraAID’s country director for Dominica responded in this way. Building a house, a school, or a community center… aren’t these the types of concrete, tangible things that benefit these communities amidst their recovery? Even if it’s a question of resource allocation, surely these projects should be on our radar if we find ourselves with new funding.

Today marks the one-week anniversary of my arrival in Dominica, and saying I have been enlightened is an understatement. IsraAID has several core objectives on the island, including training locals in beekeeping to support income generation, creating disaster preparedness plans for schools, and fostering psychosocial and emotional resiliency through community programming.

As it turns out, I arrived during one of the busiest times of the year for IsraAID Dominica. More of my hours have been spent in a van traveling to different meetings than actually working at my desk in Roseau! But this is far from a complaint, as these meetings have opened my eyes to the true mission of IsraAID in this country.

The photo at the top of this post captures a meeting we had with two Dominican beekeepers, Jacqueline and Ronnie. Jacqueline and Ronnie were trained by IsraAID post-Hurricane Maria. Participating in an intensive training course on beehive management and honey production, they were able to develop a new source of income for themselves and their family. A staggering 100% of Dominica’s agricultural sector was destroyed by Hurricane Maria, leaving over a fourth of all Dominicans without a livelihood. Today, much of the sector has bounced back, thanks to the collective efforts of Dominicans across the island. As well as providing a source of income generation, the bees will also nurture the growth of agricultural production throughout the year.

Our meeting wasn’t all good news and tales of successful honey sales, however. “We have honestly had some difficulties. To sell in certain markets, we need to meet certain standards for our honey, but meeting those standards takes equipment that is expensive. We know the quality of our honey is better, but it’s hard to scale,” the couple shared.

The conversation turned to discussion of how to scale up, market, sell to international markets, decide whether or not to become a part of a regional beekeepers association, and more. What stuck out to me about their dialogue was not the content, but rather the attitudes that lead to this meeting in the first place. IsraAID is here for the long term and building relationships with the local population to secure deeper resiliency; one-time distribution of emergency recovery aid is simply not the model in use.

I saw in this a powerful lesson for other areas of life. Oftentimes, laying a foundation for the long-term returns is a story of slow growth, setbacks, and an absence of immediate gratification. Consider a few of the people who society might intuitively call “successful” — community leaders, Nobel Prize winners, educators who inspire the next generation — in the majority of cases, this success took years of setbacks, hard work without immediate results, constant pressure, mission-oriented determination, and a sprig of luck. I believe one of the most essential skills in life is understanding the long game. Do you want to attain a certain GPA in college? Build or rebuild an important relationship? Pass a law to benefit your community? Reduce society-wide stigma around a certain issue? . . . Establish your goal, plan out the steps necessary to accomplish it, and live with intention.

If this was the full picture, however, the title of this blog post wouldn’t be what it is. Long term goals hinge on meaningful relationships. If goals and resiliency are the honeycomb, relationships are the bees. The people who will encourage you when you face inevitable setbacks, those who will come alongside you when you can’t move forward alone, and those who are honest with you when a reevaluation is necessary — such individuals are not simply helpful, they are absolutely fundamental to achieving your desired impact. It is this emphasis on relationships that makes me so proud to be investing my time with IsraAID this summer.

On the flip side, it’s OK to have some fun on the way to your goals. I’ve found my bit of fun in playing basketball at a local park with one of my coworkers, frequenting a delicious yet unabashedly unhealthy Jamaican Patty Shack down the road, and even trying yoga for the first time.

Clearly, life is a balancing act. The key is understanding what areas of life to juggle in the first place. At the age of 21, I don’t claim to have that figured out; but what I do know is that positive relationships are the cornerstone of a healthy, happy, successful life — and the lifeblood of the work we are doing here in Dominica.

Thank you for your support!

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated the Caribbean islands. The hurricane caused multiple fatalities and destroyed much of Dominica’s key infrastructure: electrical, water, agricultural, and buildings and homes. IsraAID’s team in Dominica has rebuilt hurricane-destroyed roofs; worked with the Ministry of Education; developed hurricane-resistant construction methods & practices for disaster risk management; and provided livelihood opportunities through beekeeping. Alex is from the state of Washington in the U.S., where he is currently attending the University of Washington in Seattle. He is one of two IsraAID Humanitarian Fellows volunteering in Dominica for summer 2019.