“The Homes Were Destroyed”: A Portmore Church Takes Tarpaulins, Beds and Hot Meals to Trelawny After Melissa

• House of Transformation Worship Centre in Portmore took relief to Trelawny after Hurricane Melissa
• About 30 volunteers, including a doctor, distributed tarpaulins, food, water, clothing and inflatable beds
• The pastor chose Trelawny after residents said it was being overlooked
• He said damage there was scattered, “a one house here, a one house there”

A Portmore church has taken its hurricane relief effort across the island to Trelawny, responding to residents who said their parish was being overlooked after Hurricane Melissa, the Jamaica Observer reported.

Lead Pastor Keron Francis of House of Transformation Worship Centre said the church acted after seeing the scale of the damage. “We looked at what the needs of the people were at that moment, being that the shops were destroyed, the supermarket was destroyed, the homes were destroyed … and so, we responded by trying to get at least the most basic necessities that any human being needs to live,” he said. Members in Jamaica and overseas donated supplies.

About 30 volunteers made the trip, including Dr Nastascia Wade-Saddler, who gave medical care where needed. They handed out tarpaulins, food packages, clothing, water and inflatable beds, and cooked meals of fried and stewed chicken with rice and peas. The church partnered with the Weeping Woman Foundation, led by Evangelist Shadae Graham-Clarke.

Francis said they chose Trelawny because residents on social media and in the news said most attention was going to St Elizabeth and Westmoreland. He said displacement in Trelawny was more isolated: “a one house here, a one house there, but it’s not a wide-scale devastation like we would have witnessed in Westmoreland and St Elizabeth.” “The church plays such a vital role in any country,” he said.

Tarpaulins and inflatable beds are emergency measures, but they point to the real need, which is roofs. Scattered damage of the kind Francis described, one house here and another there, is easy for large programmes to miss, and it is where church networks with members in many parishes can help most. For homeowners in Trelawny and diaspora families with property there, the next step after relief is to record the damage, check insurance, and get repairs done to a standard that will hold in the next storm. Churches that stay involved into the rebuilding phase can help make sure families are not left under tarpaulins for months.

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