New Roofs, Empty Rooms: A Ministry Went Back Into Barbuda’s Homes After Irma

• Bonnie Floyd Ministries began its Barbuda 180 project in August 2018
• It restores the interiors of homes that already have repaired roofs
• Each home restoration was estimated at about US$3,000
• A permanent volunteer base let 16 people work on several houses at once

Almost a year after Hurricane Irma tore through Barbuda in September 2017, a church outreach turned its attention to a problem the roofing crews had left behind. Pastor Bonnie Floyd started “Barbuda 180” through Bonnie Floyd Ministries in August 2018 to restore the insides of homes that had already been given new or repaired roofs by other relief groups, the Antigua Observer reported in January 2020. The ministry’s contribution to the island’s restoration had passed $50,000, according to the report.

Pastor Floyd said hundreds of homes had roofs again, but about two-thirds of them were still not functional inside. Many families, she found, were living in damaged tents on their own land because their houses could not yet be used.

Barbuda 180 fills that gap. Each homeowner gets a choice of paint colours and the whole interior is painted, interior doors are hung, and the kitchen and bathroom are fully restored, including sinks, faucets, tiling and shelving. Each home was estimated to cost about US$3,000, and by January 2020 the ministry said it had probably reached about half a dozen homes.

The work has been powered by volunteers and donors in the United States who pay their own travel. At first, teams of six worked on one house at a time. After the ministry built a permanent base on the island, it could host 16 volunteers at once and work on several homes together. The outreach was also expanding beyond construction, with two teams of women entrepreneurs due to run small-business training, bringing sewing machines, a pottery kiln and craft supplies.

Jamaica learned the same lesson after Hurricanes Beryl and Melissa: a roof keeps the rain out, but a family cannot move back until there is a working kitchen, bathroom and doors. Church-led recovery here, and diaspora congregations raising money for it, can learn from Barbuda 180’s model of a clearly costed package per house, a permanent base for volunteers and a focus on finishing homes so people can actually live in them.

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