{"id":9149,"date":"2018-03-20T07:00:32","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.globalgiving.org\/learn\/?p=9149"},"modified":"2022-12-19T08:56:15","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T13:56:15","slug":"town-holds-hope-six-months-after-hurricane-maria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalgiving.org\/learn\/town-holds-hope-six-months-after-hurricane-maria\/","title":{"rendered":"How One Small Town In Puerto Rico Holds On To Hope Six Months After Hurricane Maria"},"content":{"rendered":"

 
\nT<\/strong><\/big>he children of Punta Santiago will tell you how the ocean came into their homes.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll tell you how their parents tied them to their waists with rope and plowed through saltwater in search of safety.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll tell you how their town is racing to make sure they\u2019re prepared if it happens again.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been six months since Hurricane Maria barreled into this small town in Humacao on the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico. Little more than two months now stand between its 5,000 or so residents and the next hurricane season.<\/p>\n

One nonprofit, Programa De Educacion Comunal De Entrega Y Servicio, Inc.<\/a>, or P.E.C.E.S.,\u00a0is at the center of\u00a0the\u00a0effort to\u00a0rebuild, stronger than before, and\u00a0reverse the bleak economic reality for the people of Punta Santiago, who are up against an aging population, a poverty rate of 43%, and a median household income of $21,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at a critical moment where we can change the future,\u201d said P.E.C.E.S. Founder Nancy Madden, a former Catholic nun from Atlanta, Georgia. \u201cWe\u2019re running ahead of the government,” she said. “The next hurricane season starts in June, and we have to be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/hr>\n

 
\n\"Life
\nP.E.C.E.S. Founder Nancy Madden near her home in Punta Santiago. Photo by Marlena Hartz<\/small>
\n\"\"
\nNational news outlets shared this for help, written in Punta Santiago after Hurricane Maria hit. Photo by Marlena Hartz<\/small><\/p>\n

\n<\/hr>\n

 
\nS.O.S. NECESITAMOS Agua\/Comida<\/em><\/p>\n

Someone in Punta Santiago scrawled this plea for help in white letters across the black macadam of an intersection. In the days, weeks, and months after Hurricane Maria, the town was suspended in a virtual state of darkness, with no electricity, a shrinking supply of potable water, and spotty cell phone service.<\/p>\n

Six months later, the frantic message remains on the road, a reminder of both how far the fishing hub of Punta Santiago has come since Maria and where its residents want to end up.<\/p>\n

The deadliest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico since 1932 hurled into Punta Santiago\u2019s side on Sept. 20, 2017, making landfall about 22 kilometers south with wind speeds of 155 miles per hour. It consumed an iconic fishing dock, spitting its wooden planks into the air and onto people\u2019s lawns. Roofs were torn off. Trees were uprooted. Homes were submerged under salty water.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost everyone in Punta Santiago has PTSD, including me. When it rains, I get a tight chest. I can\u2019t breathe. Everybody is living with some of that … I studied it in books, but I never thought it would happen to me,\u201d Madden told GlobalGiving staff in February as the wind, stronger residents say ever since Maria, whipped around her salt-and-pepper hair.<\/p>\n

\n<\/hr>\n

 
\n\"\"
\nThis dock in Punta Santiago is still in disrepair six months after Hurricane Maria hit. Photo by Britt Lake<\/small><\/p>\n

\n<\/hr>\n

 
\nIt took months and months to haul the debris from people\u2019s yards. Big piles of twisted metal roofing and broken tree limbs still dot the street sides. Electricity is only partially restored and still unreliable; some, even in Puerto Rico\u2019s capital, San Juan, have power by generator only. Residents estimate about 16-20% of homes remain disconnected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can look out over Punta Santiago at night and count the number of houses with electricity,\u201d Madden said.<\/p>\n

Hurricane Maria has indelibly altered life in Punta Santiago. But there\u2019s a sense of possibility\u00a0despite all the loss. The hurricane destroyed Jos\u00e9 L. Aponte Cruz\u2019s beachside restaurant and his car.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the crisis, we cried and screamed. But now we want to rise,\u201d said Cruz. “We are trying to get back on our feet, by the grace of God.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s too expensive for Cruz to rebuild his restaurant, so he now cooks and sells grilled meat and fried food to a loyal contingent of customers from a makeshift tent in his front yard. This same area, he points out, was covered under 5-feet of Maria-stirred water and sewage not too long ago. P.E.C.E.S. is working with Cruz to help him access aid and develop a sustainable business plan.<\/p>\n

\n<\/hr>\n

 
\n\"Jos\u00e9
\nHurricane Maria destroyed Jos\u00e9 L. Aponte Cruz\u2019s beachside restaurant and his car. Photo by Marlena Hartz<\/small><\/p>\n

\n<\/hr>\n

 
\nCruz is one of nearly 44,000 people in 13 municipalities that P.E.C.E.S. has helped since Maria made landfall. The nonprofit has delivered more than 250,000 pounds of food and other supplies to hurricane-impacted families, coordinated health and psychological services to 600 people in need, and donated nearly 50 diesel generators to powerless homes\u2014a project still in progress when I visited Punta Santiago in late February.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a sense of empowerment\u2014a can-do attitude\u2014that was not there before the hurricane,\u201d said Janice Petrovich of the entire island. Petrovich is the executive director and vice president of Red de Fundaciones de Puerto Rico Inc.<\/a>, which also funds P.E.C.E.S.<\/p>\n

In an interview<\/a> in the early 90s, Madden explained the meaning behind the name P.E.C.E.S., which\u00a0means\u00a0fish in Latin. It\u2019s a reference to the well-worn saying, \u201cIf you give someone a fish, they will eat for a day. If you teach someone to fish, they will eat for a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Madden\u2019s parish informed her that her assignment in the once-thriving port town of Punta Santiago would shortly come to end, she couldn\u2019t bring herself to leave. The community needed a school, and it had finally marshaled the resources to get it started. This was a chance to impact lifetimes on an island in the grip of painful, debt-related austerity measures<\/a> and a profound shift to a knowledge-based economy<\/a>.\u00a0P.E.C.E.S. was founded in 1985.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than 30 years later, P.E.C.E.S. has sharpened four programmatic areas: education, youth intervention and health, sustainable economic development, and community development. Its leadership sees the four areas as the key to a brighter future for Punta Santiago\u2014and all of Puerto Rico. Post-Maria, disaster preparedness, including resilient housing projects, is an interwoven priority, too.<\/p>\n

The heart of P.E.C.E.S. is still its school, a sturdy building with multiple classrooms and a covered, outdoor arena that somehow stood up well against Hurricane Maria.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello, sister,\u201d students greeted Madden as she walked through the school\u2019s hallways in late February. Inside one classroom, an English teacher finished the hour\u2019s lesson about storytelling in films. Outside, a gym teacher led a group of energetic students through a series of stretches. Under the arena, a\u00a0P.E.C.E.S.\u00a0<\/span>community organizer\u00a0hosted a workshop with residents to set hurricane-recovery priorities.<\/p>\n

S<\/strong><\/big>ix months after Maria, P.E.C.E.S. leaders worry a lot about the impact of the storm on youth. The hurricane destroyed some of the few resources that had been carved out for them, and P.E.C.E.S. is lobbying to restore them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat will happen to our children if they don\u2019t have a playground or a basketball court?\u201d asked Servando Diaz, a P.E.C.E.S. consultant. Maria mangled both in Punta Santiago.<\/p>\n

A former urban planner, Diaz abandoned his retirement plans\u2014which included lots of time on the golf course\u2014to help Punta Santiago rebuild. \u201cYou have to have a place for the kids,\u201d he said. \u201cA basketball court, a place to dance, those are the simple things that a community needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ivonne Ortiz Arroyo, the vice president of programs at P.E.C.E.S., worries about Maria\u2019s emotional toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren don\u2019t understand why they don\u2019t have lights for five months, or understand why mommy doesn\u2019t have any money because she\u2019s spending it on gas for a generator,” she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Investing in the children of Punta Santiago is critical to its future resilience to crises, P.E.C.E.S. leaders said. Many original graduates of the P.E.C.E.S. school now have children who attend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThirty years ago, we did not have the leadership we have now. Because of P.E.C.E.S., all sorts of small businesses have been established, and it\u2019s what families live off of,\u201d Arroyo said.<\/p>\n

Madden puts it this way: \u201cOnce you become a protagonist in your own future, that\u2019s the antidote to PTSD.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/hr>\n

 
\n\"\"A new water filtration system now stands on the P.E.C.E.S. campus. Photo by Marlena Hartz<\/small><\/p>\n

\n<\/hr>\n

 
\nO<\/big><\/strong>n the P.E.C.E.S. campus, just behind the school, a new windmill juts into the sky, its silver blades whirring.<\/p>\n

The Rotary Club donated the windmill to P.E.C.E.S. after its S.O.S. message went viral<\/a>. It is designed to filter saltwater, via wind and solar power, and produce up to 5,000 gallons of potable water per day. Its first batch of water tested positive for harmful bacteria, but P.E.C.E.S. hasn\u2019t given up. Results from another batch of water should come back any day now, Madden told me.<\/p>\n

The gleaming structure, like the S.O.S. message that has yet to fade, is another symbol.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have to say, and with great firmness, is that this is an incredible opportunity,\u201d Madden said. \u201cWe have found what we can do together,\u201d she later added, \u201cand we know we can do even more things together. So, there\u2019s great hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Six months after Hurricane Maria, the GlobalGiving community continues to support locally led organizations like P.E.C.E.S. through the Puerto Rico and Caribbean Hurricane Relief Fund.<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article was originally published in Women@Forbes<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\nFeatured Photo<\/span> by GlobalGiving<\/a><\/small>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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