Give thanks that we have escaped major hurricanes this year, but what a weather! The hurricane season officially closed on November 30, but there are still small areas of disturbances hovering around. May we remain out of reach.

It wasn’t easy watching the television coverage. The heavy and incessant rains from the outer bands of passing storms has inundated sections of Jamaica and caused utter devastation in those areas. The pictures of flooded gullies, swollen rivers, demolished houses, and impassable roads were, to say the least, upsetting. It’s painful to think of what our brothers and sisters in those parts of the island are going through post-hurricane season.

The luckier ones among us have much to be thankful for. With each recent shower we cross our fingers, check our surroundings, and trust and pray that we are not laying ourselves open to the misery that has overtaken the victims of the October-November onslaught. One thing is certain, hurricane season will never be the same again. Remember the elementary school jingle “September, remember; October all over”? It now reads like: “Every month come it must.”

The scenes from the hurricane-battered areas in the USA and in Central America made us shudder. Suppose, on top of all the heavy rains we experienced, a hurricane had hit us? Don’t forget the trajectory had us in sight on at least two occasions. One member of our Thursday evening debate club swears that while he was watching the weather report he saw Jamaica duck. He swears the hurricane didn’t change course; Jamaica shifted. It came so close that I want to believe him.

The shift game is little consolation for those who got the direct hit and those whose houses may have been washed away by the storm. Yet, it could have been worse. The damage to roads, bridges, retaining walls, culverts, etc, has exposed the weakness of an infrastructure that could have collapsed under the pressure of a Hurricane Laura or Hurricane Iota, the latter of which hit the ground running at 160 miles per hour.

Central America suffered a double blow, first of all from Eta, a category four storm that claimed some 60 lives, followed by Iota.

Further north, America’s Golf Coast was battered an incredible seven times, with Eta tormenting Florida twice during its circle, and leaving untold damage to housing and beach communities.

Pity poor Louisiana; that state saw at least five storms this year, including Zeta and the 150-mile-per hour Laura.

Taken into context, our prayers were answered, as we were spared the direct impact and potential destruction from those high-strung 2020 hurricanes. But what about those who also prayed and did not get any relief? That’s a debate that takes place every year, especially at this time, and finds us treading into deep theological waters because the answers are hard to come by.

Christians who find themselves on the wrong end of the storm may cry, “Why, Lord, why?” But we are taught to find comfort in the letter of St Paul, in which he reminded that, in time of personal distress, his Lord told him: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in [your] weakness.”

The eternal truth is that it rains on the just and the unjust, but when Christians are hit by disasters their belief that God can bring good from a bad situation does provide hope and resilience.

Time and again we have seen evidence of that faith in deliverance, that resilience, and that strength of character embedded deep in the heart of Jamaicans.

Hours after the passage of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 I was charged to go on an emergency relief mission through devastated areas of southern St Elizabeth around the Alpart plant. The south coast had been hard hit the night before and I was expecting distress signals and heartbreaking stories from the hundreds of persons impacted. What I saw was the exact opposite.

Just hours after the storm, St Elizabetheans were out on their roofs, in their gardens, hammering, repairing, helping each other, cooking for neighbours in want, and sharing experiences with colourful stories punctuated by laughter; putting their homes back together without waiting for help.

Traditionally, St Elizabethans will look to their own strengths first before inviting rescue or assistance “inna dem yard”. That assistance would, of course, eventually come from corporate neighbour Alpart, the alumina company that parishioners referred to as “fi wi Government”, and with whom residents, in spite of occasional discomfort and quarrel, had built an alliance based on the community outreach of the company and the strong hardy independent ‘yardman’ spirit that fostered mutual respect.

On the company side, help in times of stress has never been wanting. This was true of Alpart as well as of other industry companies. My earliest impression of the industry was formed as a schoolboy at Munro College in Malvern, when Kaiser Bauxite sent a heavy equipment team to clear and level a well-needed additional football field for a school at which football reigned as the king of sports.

Another good impression imprinted on my mind involved a group of Alcan Kirkvine workers who came to the aid of a homeless man who was sheltering in a cave on Melrose Hill in Manchester. The employees traversed that route daily from May Pen to Kirkvine and took it upon themselves to build a little house for the gentleman as their social contribution.

Add to that those stories of Alcan assistance provided through ambulances, nurses, workers, and transportation on the night of the Kendal train crash.

This, I thought from an early age, was the industry to work for.

Flash-forward to June 1979, when western Jamaica was devastated by heavy flood rains. It was a disaster of national proportions which left several dead and thousands homeless.

From central Jamaica Kaiser Bauxite employees in St Ann rallied to the aid of the victims with an overwhelming response. General Manager Ed Coyne sent his public relations team into the parishes to estimate the extent of the damage. On their return to Discovery Bay the team recommended a contribution of $100,000 to go to the Red Cross.

“Your estimate is way too low,” Coyne corrected. “While you were out checking the damage Cornell Maier (the corporate chairman in Oakland, California) had been following the news reports on Jamaica and phoned to ask me simply, how much. I suggested a contribution of $1,000,000.”

“Agreed,” said the chairman of the Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation. “But make that US$1,000,000.”

This, beyond a doubt, was the industry to work for.

Food, clothes, and money came pouring in not only from local employees, but from friends at the Kaiser plants across the United States.

The contribution from the companies operating in Jamaica at that time was acknowledged with a special thank you in Parliament and a plaque from Governor General Sir Florizel Glasspole: “From the Government and people of Jamaica to the bauxite industry in recognition of the outstanding and meritorious services so unselfishly rendered in bringing relief in the face of the disastrous floods of June 1979.”

It’s been many years since Kaiser Bauxite sent its heavy-duty equipment up “the road” to level a playing field for a school some 50 miles distant. Since that time the industry has been a cornerstone of the national economy, and for near 70 years has been through national crises after crises with Jamaica, including hurricanes, floods, recessions, and now still keeping the wheels of industry turning as we weather the COVID-19 storm. Even in the worst of times the industry still contributes anywhere from 40 per cent to 60 per cent of the foreign exchange earnings from the traditional and non-traditional sectors.

The three operating entities today, Jamalco, Rusal Ewarton and Noranda Bauxite, while facing challenges from the unpredictability of global markets, continue to share a leadership role in the way forward for achieving economic resilience for our country at this time. These are the companies first out of the gate with documented major education assistance, agricultural partnerships, greenhouse options, national contributions, community development, and seeking always to ensure compliance, care and concern for the environment.

Unfortunately Alpart is now closed, temporarily we hope, and has left a huge gap in the economic balance and sustainability of the Jamaican economy. Alpart’s closure in December 2019 saw a 17.6 per cent decline in output from this important sector and a deep cut into our foreign exchange earnings. The mining industry accounted for 53 per cent of all exports in 2019.

I found this letter from a former Alpart employee to his friends on WhatsApp to be reflective of the contribution to national development by the industry in the field of human resource qualities.

“I would like to register my gratitude to you all for creating and sustaining a First World working environment.

“In many respects Alpart was a university with on-the-job training that equipped people to work anywhere in the world (Jamaicans), as evidenced by the many persons who are working globally now using the competences garnered at Alpart.

“It must not be overlooked that each person in your respective roles, then, created a corporate environment that rivals many Fortune 500 companies.

“The names that come across my mind represents a group of outstanding people that might not get the proper national recognition you deserve but let it be noted that you have contributed to shaping the foundation of St Elizabeth and Manchester directly and indirectly.

“There is no way to measure your impact on the world.”

And so say all of us.

Lance Neita is a public relations professional and writer. He is the author of the book In Partnership with Jamaica, the story of Kaiser Aluminum’s 50-year partnership with Jamaica. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or lanceneita@hotmail.com.