Splitting into three groups, Pella Christian delivered food to homes around Abaco. While the team gave food and prayers they received new perspectives hearing others stories.
Read past blogs from this team and others at Team Updates – Many Hands Impact
We got to sleep in a little bit because church was later than we would normally start working. After breakfast, we loaded up and headed to Kirk of the Pines church. Laura challenged our group to split up and sit with other members of the Church. After church, we talked to the members and asked them multiple questions. Then we went to lunch at Snappa’s bar and grill at the marina. Following lunch, we went back to the Kirk of the Pines, separated into three different groups, and set out by van to each of the homes previously selected.
Hattie’s van: there were six kids in total in our van, with Derrica and Chad Van Wyk. We also had the Martins in our van; they are members and work at the First Assemblies of God Church. We went to Spring City to hand out the food distributions. One of the homes we went to was Miss Virginia. Miss Virginia is 91 years old and is still standing and doing everything on her own. She told us the story about the hurricane and where she went during it. We also prayed over her and then drove to the next house.
The next house was Miss Sharon. They had just rebuilt Miss Sharon’s house the year prior, and her daughter runs a convenience store out of the back to provide for the family. We also prayed over her and left.
The last house that we arrived at was Miss Del’s house. When we walked inside Miss Del’s house, there was drywall up, and they had taped and mudded it, but none of it was painted. Her daughter was also there, and she told us that when they had moved into the house back in May, there was no drywall, no running water, and no electricity. They still have no electricity, and she told us that to get the electricity on would be $400. We then prayed over her and packed back up in the van. On our way back, Chad asked us how much money most of us brought on this trip, and most of us said around $150-$200. When we said that, it put into perspective that we take so much for granted and that only two of us had the money to give her electricity, and we didn’t even think about it. But she has not had $400 for the last seven months. Just having electricity really broke my heart, and it made me realize that we should not take things for granted.
Addie’s Van- We dropped off food to five different families but one that really stood out to me was Miss Collette, she is a single mom of three teens. Miss Collette and her three kids lived in a temporary dome home for four years. Their temporary home was very small and had a lot of black mold growing, which caused a lot of health problems. The exposure to the black mold caused Max (her son) to not be able to speak and gave him problems to function physically. It was really sad to see the problems they have to endure, but it was truly inspiring to see how they were still happy and found joy in the midst of a very hard time.
Riley’s van: The first house that we stopped at was a couple who were a Pastor and a Reverend who had worked their whole lives for others. When we first got in, you could tell that the woman was not doing too well and just looked like she was stuck inside and couldn’t really get up to do a bunch of stuff. We talked to them about their stories and how they came from other places in the Bahamas and how they missed their jobs. The man was a pastor for 14 years, and the woman worked in the church. They both had amazing stories, and we ended up singing for them and then ending with a prayer over them for her health and protection, and safety for them.
The next house that we visited was Gwenny, who shared about Dorian – when the storm hit, she left for the U.S. and then came back to [Abaco] 9 months later. She said that the storm was like no other that she had ever experienced. She said that she was with her two sisters when the storm came and that it was a horrible, scary experience seeing the roof blowing away from all of the wind and pressure from outside. She said that she had to leave first off because of all the destruction that happened and because of all the bodies that were floating around and hurt from the horrific scene left behind from the storm. Jackie, our leader, chimed in towards the end and told us about the costs of leaving the island – 75 dollars to get a plane ride to leave Abaco. They left for the States and were there for nine months before returning and she said that that was pretty early to come back and that mostly everyone returned after leaving. At the end, we sang again and prayed over her and then moved on to the next home. Today was very heavy as we saw the destruction and result of the hurricane.
