At one of the shelters last week we met the crew from a boat called Diamant, who had come in from Grenada with food for the island. This week they returned with more supplies from Martinique and we assisted in making 50 individual care packages that contained food, NFI’s (non-food items) and other supplies, as well as 25 family packs for distribution in the northern region of the island that has been receiving less aid.

We then drove up to the village of Penville to distribute the packages along with medical and baby supplies to the shelters and individual homes. One particular single mother with three children and a baby had not received any food or water in a couple of days! She was so grateful for the family packs, baby food, diapers and other supplies we were able to bring.

Following last week’s meeting with members of UNICEF, the minister of education, and other international organizations, we volunteered to assist Ms. Elma Williams, the head Counsellor for the northern region of the island to host two-day sessions of debriefing with the teachers, principles, and guidance counselors from 7 different schools in the north.

Our first session was held at the Roosevelt Douglas Primary School which was also still partly operating as a shelter. The workshop included different ice breakers and activities and coping methods provided from IsraAID, to give the 59 teachers a chance to express how the storm affected them and share their stories of what they went through, and also how they found ways to cope.

The teachers were very grateful for the chance to talk about the things that they were struggling with after having gone through the hurricane, and work together with us to find steps to recover.