We still do not have electricity in our Arecibo convent. The tap water is on, but we cannot drink it. We must buy water for drinking and cooking. There are still no traffic lights. We are blessed to have a place to live. —Sister Veronica
We appreciate everyone interested in our well-being and all the supplies everyone is sending. Mail is slow to arrive and there is much theft. What we want we cannot have. We want everyone to have water, light and a roof for shelter. We want our people to not go hungry. We want recovery and help to come quickly.
No light, no water, no rest, no progress. There is debris everywhere. We live the same difficult life as the people on my Island, but with one great difference - we have a congregation that supports, encourages and provides for us.
Water with Blessings is sending water filters, training materials and water storage containers to our Sisters in Puerto Rico so they can help others who are suffering. Each water filter kit can provide clean water to five households. The Sisters from the mainland mobilized their efforts and sent food, solar lamps and batteries. Mail service is working again.
Today was a new day with its own challenges. I awoke at 5 am and opened the garage door, which I must secure every night with a rope. I’ve been struggling to bring water to the San Rafael asylum. A former San Felipe school student helped me deliver five boxes of water to the asylum. We talk to the Mayor of Arecibo and implore him to send more water to the asylum. He promises to send ten more boxes today. We are still without electricity.
We are now able to connect by cell phone with our Sisters in Bayamon. We do not to leave the Arecibo convent alone because of safety issues. —Sister Elsa
I heard from my brother and sister, everybody is safe, but they lost everything. There are no orange trees or banana trees, all of the avocados are gone. We will not have avocados or gandures (beans) for Christmas this year. It is very sad. —Sister Ana Lydia
We are surviving. No light, water or internet. Three hundred cars wait in line for gasoline. No green mountains. Everything is brown and dry. When it’s sunny, we use machetes to cut the broken trees and pick up debris. When it rains, we collect water to wash our clothes and bathe. We survived and are grateful in the midst of our scarcity.
Since my arrival here on December 14, 2017, I spent time with the Sisters first in Bayamón and then in Arecibo, where I call home. I celebrated the Silver Jubilee with Sister Elsa and enjoyed seeing people she knew. My days in December were filled with rides to the campo, taking water filters, food and Pampers (there are a large number of children in these areas) with Sisters Elsa and Juanita, seeing first-hand the destruction in the areas of Arecibo and Utuado. I also spent time with families of Sisters Ana Lydia, Elsa and Margarita and her twin Isabel (we watched the Steelers - Jacksonville game as Marga has cable)! Recently Sisters Veronica, Juanita and I drove through Islote, a town located on the Atlantic coast with homes very near the ocean, and Barceloneta, observing the visible damage to trees and homes. There are many homes without roofs and second floors ripped off, not to mention those in Utuado where the “hill came down” and tore off the front of little houses along the river and filled them with mud and broken trees and furniture.
Hurricane María devastated nature, bringing down huge trees, ripping off limbs of trees and leaving bare trunks. In many areas, trees have produced leaves, flowers are visible, and pumpkins are growing. It is just amazing to observe complete destruction on one side of the road and new life on the other. The Sisters in Arecibo have harvested their first banana crop! Yes, we have the most delicious little bananas that taste like apples! These are among my favorite! There are no citrus and other native fruits this year due to María. The harvest time for oranges and grapefruit is usually November and December. There are no plantains either.
The visible resiliency that I am experiencing is a sign of hope and strong faith in the people I visit. “We will make it” is an often-heard phrase.
There is electricity in our Arecibo convent tonight!
—Sr. Juanita
