Local men return from Grenada mission

Ken Johnston

While many of us shuddered when caribbean countries and Florida were devastated by hurricane after hurricane this year, some folks were thinking about how they could help those affected by the storms.
Pat Giles and Clayton Shannon of Rainy River, Jerry Galusha of Sleeman and Ken Larson of Birchdale, MN. signed up with Samaritan’s Purse to do just that. The foursome left for Grenada on November 20th to provide manual labour in the reconstruction efforts there. Hurricane Ivan decimated the caribbean country and Samaritan’s Purse decided to coordinate a four week program sending volunteers there to rebuild homes. Each week 25 people, mostly Canadians, travelled to Grenada and provided much needed labour.
Shannon was amazed at the destruction. “There were a lot of roofs blown off and power lines down everywhere. We even drove under and over downed power lines.”
The 25 workers were broken down into five work crews and each morning they ate and then were dispatched to work at various locations. While Samaritan’s Purse had sent enough tools and generators for the 25 workers, other groups were also on location volunteering to help with the cause. Operation Mobilization was there as was the Logos II ship. The ship provided 120 people to work on the reconstruction. “Often we ended up sharing our tools with them,” said Giles. The four men also brought some tools with them, but in Shannon’s case that did not matter. “They (airline) lost my bag with the tools in it.”
With so much devastation there was not enough tradespeople in the country to rebuild everything. “Most of the foundations were already constructed for us,” said Giles. The Rainy River workers then went about erecting a floor, four walls and and putting on a tin roof. The walls were stick construction but were not sheeted in with wood. They were covered with tarps or house wrap.
“This was ment to be temporary and would be replaced with siding as they could afford it,” said Giles who also noted, “We did not have any doors to put on either.”
“It was very difficult to get material there,” said Galusha who noted that nothing was left on site at night. “There was problems with people stealing materials from job sites.” For the most part, wood was being shipped in from Florida as a neighbouring country had jacked the prices up after the storm passed.
Now when one hears about the good samaritans rebuilding homes for the poor there, the imagination sees a new house of fair size and full of amenities. But these tarpaulin wrapped homes were no more than 14X16 feet in dimension. “In some cases five people would move back into the new home,” said Galusha. While there the 25 workers managed to erect about 15 of these new homes that basically were just a shell. “There were no amenities,” said Giles.
Since the country of about 100,000 people is only 21 miles long and 7 miles across, there is very limited flatlands. Almost all homes are built on a hillside and that ment many of the foundations were higher on one side than the other. “We had to wrestle with crooked construction. In fact one day we spent half a day trying to make one work,” said Giles.
Another challenge for the crews was the lack of transportation and having to wait for supplies. The crews were shuttled about in open back trucks each day and often had to ride with supplies piled up beneath them. “The driving was also scary,” said Shannon. “The streets are narrow and they drive on the wrong side of the street.” Horns are also used a lot as many of the corners are blind so vehicles blare their horns at each bend to let oncoming traffic know they are there.
The men brought things with them to give to the residents of Grenada. Giles said he had Rainy River Centennial souvenirs, including frisbees and visors. He also had pins and all the men had candy to give to the kids. “Many of the kids would ask for more than one candy. They would say, ‘Give me one for my brother,’” said Giles.
Shannon said that the children were always clean and dressed up for school each day. That really impressed him, especially since the families had so very little to call their own.
“If the kids fell down in the mud they would have to go home and get clean before going to school,” said Galusha.
All of the men agreed that Canadians and Americans really do have it good. “We have so much here in this country and they have nothing,” said Galusha.
Beyond the need for shelter, Grenadians will also be facing an economically uncertain future. “I built in an area where a lot of spice trees were destroyed, especially nutmeg. It will take 25 years for them to regrow.” Spices are the country’s main export and it will be at least a decade before new trees will start producing, said Shannon.
Samaritan’s Purse will be continuing to do work in Grenada through until April. “If you can drive nails, they will put you to work,” said Galusha. The trip cost about $2,400 per person, sponsored by their local church (Good News Fellowship). Each of them said they felt the expense was worth it. The shortage of skilled labourers there has to be filled by someone and these volunteers are greatly appreciated. All said they enjoyed the experience and would do it again.
They arrived back in Canada about a week later. Again on the way back Shannon’s luggage was lost and eventually found. Giles mentioned that he may look for another mission in the future and said there is one coming up in Jordan next year.