The afternoon of Friday, October 19th: It was “full house” at the Sister Remedios Community Center.
People joined in from all over the island to celebrate the Open House of the newly-renovated building. Karidat and partners had done so much to revitalize the space into a “third life” and we were (humbly) proud to showcase the result of that work. With fresh paint and new flooring, the building had undergone a “makeover” and it was…well, it was practically sparkling.
The night of Wednesday, October 24th: the Category 1 storm we prepared for suddenly morphed into a monstrous Super Typhoon and hit Tinian and the southern end of Saipan with record-breaking power. Chalan Kanoa was one of the villages that was extensively damaged, and the Sister Remedios building was not spared. Among other significant structural casualties: the roof.
It is going to take a long while for our community to recover.
Day-to-day, Karidat is participating with organizations whose mission it is to be the “second responders”: American Red Cross, MyPros, FEMA and other on-the-ground agencies who make up the VOAD (a voluntary coalition of organizations who help after a disaster). While we help to distribute aid, we are simultaneously trying to continue to provide services for our existing clients.
But it is not easy without some of the basic infrastructure necessary for daily operations.
Our experience after Typhoon Soudelor taught us some lessons about the long-lasting effects of a natural disaster such as these: people continue to need help for a quite a long time. So right now, Karidat is also trying to develop a plan to address the long-term recovery needs of those who are not FEMA eligible or still have ongoing needs. It is our mission to continue to provide help long after the Feds, off-island volunteers and others have gone home.
It is going to take a long while to recover, but this is our home.
Part of being located in the heart of a community with so many needs is that Karidat is not comfortably removed from the difficulties and struggles of that community. We are accompanying those who are limping along after the extensive damage to homes, structures and routines while we do our own share of limping, also.
We are asking the same kinds of questions others in our island communities are asking themselves: How will we obtain the (considerable) financial resources in order to rebuild?
What can we do to continue work even with such significant disruptions to the daily routines?
How do we get by in the meantime, and how can we best serve while also rebuilding?
It is going to take a while for our community—and community center—to recover, but we are not going anywhere. Please stay with us on this journey.