ADRA: Handing people in need a lifeline

Sunday, May 02, 2010

PAULINE Weir, 59, still remembers how devastated she was when her three-bedroom house was burnt to the ground two years ago as she slept.

"I only see the smoke going up and I didn't even save a shoes. Everything burn up, including my couch and my stove," recounts the Manchester resident.

But last year, Weir was given much to smile about after representatives from the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), in collaboration with the parish council, built her a two-bedroom house to replace the one she lost in the fire.

"If it wasn't for the ADRA people them, I would be on the roadside," she said from the doorway of her new home.

Weir is only one of a long list of people who have been handed a lifeline by the agency, which was registered in Jamaica in the early 1980s. Director Wenford Henry said the entity aims to, "provide sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity".

ADRA currently operates in 125 countries and allows Seventh-day Adventists globally to provide humanitarian support to victims of natural disasters and communities in need. In Jamaica, the group works closely with agencies, such as the Jamaica Red Cross, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, the National United Way of Jamaica, and the Poor Relief Department. They also work with members of parliament, as well as councillors and mayors for communities where help is most needed.

"We attend to a lot of needs because people are burnt out and they come for clothes. So we distribute clothing here (as well as) food and we partner with Food for the Poor as well," said Henry.

One of their most recent projects is being done in collaboration with the United States-based Habitat for Humanity and will see the groups building 10 houses and repairing 35 roofs in Manchester, St Elizabeth and Portland.

"That project is approved. In fact, we have already got part of the funding for that project," said Henry.

With the input of ADRA International, they will also build 50 toilets and donate 50 water tanks to residents of South Manchester to relieve the water crisis there. An estimated 300 residents are expected to benefit from the $2.5-million project, most of who have been without water for the past 10 years.

"We will be building these toilets and we will be giving the water tanks, to at least make life a little bit easier on these mothers and older people and children," said Henry.

Meanwhile, the group has their hands full trying to meet the requests from those in need on a daily basis. Most of these requests are for material to help with the completion of a house, food, clothing, and bedding. They also provide books to schools and even recently provided medical supplies to a few public hospitals, including the Mandeville Hospital.

The group also rallied to the cause of the Haitians, who were devastated by a magnitude-7 earthquake earlier this year. In addition to housing them at the Port Antonio Seventh-day Adventist Church, the group also provides food and clothing to the 32 Haitians, who are still being housed at the facility.

These projects have been costly, but ADRA has been able to carry them out with the assistance of their international donors, after sending out proposals to these agencies to justify the need for their projects. Churches that are a part of the West Indies Council of Seventh-day Adventist also make their contributions to assist.

"Anybody we are helping, they have to help themselves as well, so they have to put in sweat equity (and) part funding. You will find that some people don't have and we are not going to say we not going to help, because they don't have it. But you don't (want to) give the impression that you are just giving out things," said Henry.

Because of their willingness to assist during natural disasters, most persons mistakenly refer to organisation as the 'Adventist Disaster and Relief Agency'. It's a name they take in stride, but Henry assures that they also seek to contribute to the development of small businesses in the country.

"I don't want us to be known (only for) helping in disaster, I want us to be really into development. So we will be assisting farmers in terms of chicken-rearing and goat-rearing and, of course, farming generally. We want to seek funding to help them to help themselves," he said.

Even so, the group feels a special responsibility to ensuring that the most vulnerable are protected during and after a hurricane. In fact, they have already started working on proposals to send to their donors and intend to start their sensitisation projects and disaster-training programmes this month with community members, to prepare them for the hurricane season.

"We have a tendency in Jamaica to wait and to say well it is not going to hit us. We want (to change that). We want people to take it seriously and don't even wait until June, but to start from now to prepare for the season," said Henry.

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ADRA: Handing people in need a lifeline