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"3. 2. 1. Lift!" ordered Maritza, our boss for the week. And with 20 hands on board, up rose a ginormous log to be cleared from the yard. I do not know how much the fallen log weighed, but I do know that after 6 months of an abysmally slow recovery from Hurricane Maria, the rubble and damage still weighed heavily on the spirits of the people of Almirante Sur.
For that reason, 10 Harvard students, 1 PBHA supervisor, and 1 mighty Maritza! headed down to Puerto Rico for a week in March, bringing water filters, medical and school supplies. People have asked me why I wanted to co-direct this trip and were often weary of how much we could accomplish. The simple answer is that there was work to be done and fellow humans that could benefit more from one's week of service than they would from one's week of spring break festivities. I don't think anything else is needed to justify this onus?
I will admit, prior to the trip I was nervous too about how much impact we could make. I knew we couldn't "move mountains" yet, or restore any power to the area, which now counts 6 months without electricity. After all, how much could 10 students do with their bare (gloved) hands? If you qualify things in Joules (Force X Distance), not much. But believe me, there was so much more to the trip than any physics quantity can tell.
Let me contextualize the conditions. Over the course of the week we visited about 10 houses. Some were without roofs - some inhabitants used tarps to cover from the rain, while others bore the unfavorable conditions with barely anything above their heads. We worked on a house that completely lost its second floor. We worked on a property with 2 homes: one that withstood the disaster, and the other that was completely gone down the mountainside.
I will never forget the house on the mountainside. The owners were an elderly couple in no condition to clean up any of the area. The caballero depended on a diesel generator to power the respirator he needed to survive. When we lowered into the mountain, a place the government and private companies supposedly would refuse to go clear wreckage, we found so many belongings intact. This site was the clearest of how indiscriminately the hurricane affected and destroyed livelihoods. We retrieved precious jewelry and two sentimental figurines that were made for the couple's marriage decades ago. We handed it back to them and they were received with smiles and gratitude. But one could subtly sense their disappointment that they now knew their wedding portrait and other priceless memorabilia were gone forever. That was without a doubt one of the saddest moments in the week.
Other sites were more light-hearted, as some families that had given up on clearing the wreckage felt glee when we started it again, and they joined in jubilantly and made meaningful conversation. I think that, yes, if we had a team of 1 electrician, 7 construction workers, 1 engineer, and 1 ground contact backed by a utilities company, we could accomplish a lot more repair and recovery work. But those resources are scarce and our efforts are not detracted by it. I am very proud of the work that we have done and the spirits we have lifted.
The community garden we created wasn't meant to feed a whole town. But it was meant to get the kids, who had gone through so much, excited and happy to contribute to something lively. The wreckage we cleared was only a fraction of what remains to be done. But it was meant to demonstrate that there are people out there that still care for your wellbeing, and you aren't forgotten. The life necessities of food, water, and shelter are always imperative and are the number one priority. But I also now see that a close second is faith in and happiness of the human spirit; and I believe at least for the week there, we genuinely uplifted such spirit in the community.
Part II will include my reflections about what I felt was happenign politically, technologically, and a bit on identity.