Heartache and hope

Two weeks after Hurricane Beryl ravaged Jamaica’s south coast, displacing numerous families, one matriarch from Manchester is putting her trust in God for recovery amid the storm’s aftermath.

Darnett Bent lost the roof of her four-bedroom house that housed her family of eight in Woodlands in the midst of the Category 4 hurricane, where she and her family bonded before they had to seek refuge elsewhere.

She told The Gleaner that normally, she would be at the home with her four grandchildren but expressed relief that one of the children, who is asthmatic, was taken by her father in Montego Bay ahead of the hurricane.

“Lucky for her because if she was here, she would die because she have a bad asthma,” Bent said, noting that her son had to run with the children to seek shelter, fighting the wind and rain, after their roof blew off.

“Mi just hear the zinc dem a make noise, and mi a say, ‘No, sah.’ Then we start to feel di water, and is on the veranda we had to stand up. The ceiling come down in there, and the bed dem start to wet; everything just start to wet,” Bent said, pointing to items she threw out after cleaning up.

She said her son made the call to relocate after they were left with little choice when the hurricane devastated their home of over 30 years.

Bent said she would not like to experience another hurricane.

“Me affi run, y’know, in the wind and rain. The water is like bamboo cutting you, the force of it. I had to turn sideways, and is like my head spin and I was going to fall down, and me say, ‘Jesus, nuh mek mi fall down.’ I was so shaken up and tired. Drained,” she recalled of the July 3 events.

Two weeks later, she is using tarpaulin to cover her home, pending repairs.

“The rain come, and when the water settle underneath, some of the things mildew, and what you gonna do other than throw dem away?” she shared, noting that her losses continue to mount.

“Mi just a leave it to God because me nah work. Mi nuh have no money, but God promised me. I sat on the bed the night (July 3) up there, and the tears flowed, and mi say, ‘God, why?’,” Bent said, adding that a small voice said, “Hope thou in God”.

“God must know what Him have in store for me because Him know say mi can’t make it and mi a wait on God,” Bent said.

On Wednesday when The Gleaner visisted her, she was also on the lookout for a truck delivering mattresses, hoping to secure one.

“We were not 100 per cent comfortable, but we made it work. Mi a tell you say me never see nothing like that. Gilbert was a blessing. Mi say when the storm a come, y’know, is like it spin and then it had a frost and it go so ‘Whooooo!’,” Bent said.

She is grateful that her family trimmed a hogberry tree at the front of the premises the day before the storm as it would have likely fallen on the house.

“I am just leaving it to God and just lift my faith. Mi nuh so bad. [Since the storm], I go to Cross Keys and visit the church down there … to see this devavstaion. I don’t want see no more,” Bent added.

She is concerned that her grandchildren, who are all students and who suffered greatly, losing books and clothing, will have a hard time preparing for the new school year, which begins in September.

The Government has announced a raft of measures to provide grants and assistance to Jamaicans affected by Hurricane Beryl.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told the House of Representatives that based on the damage assessment received, an allocation of $1 billion has been earmarked to provide grants and assistance for restoration, reconstruction, and relocation.

“The condition that we have agreed [on] is that all potential beneficiaries must be assessed. So … there will be persons who have damage, but not every house that is damaged will qualify for grants for restoration, reconstruction, and relocation,” Holness explained.

He said the Ministry of Labour and Social Security will outline the eligibility criteria.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com