Better system for volunteers needed post Hurricane Melissa
Attorney-at-law and social justice advocate, Christina Williams has issued an appeal for a central voice to take command of volunteer relief activities across the island following devastation from Hurricane Melissa.
At category five strength, Hurricane Melissa battered Jamaica with heavy rain and winds over Monday and Tuesday, destroying critical infrastructure across the island and leaving many homeless.
Williams told the Jamaica Observer on Friday that she, along with the University of the West Indies (UWI), has organised a group of 1,000 young volunteers who are ready to assist the most badly affected with recovery efforts.
However, Williams cited a problem.
“We have a thousand volunteers across Jamaica who have confirmed that they want to go down into the affected areas to work. I am coordinating it along with UWI.
“We are having issues because there is no central voice right now that is saying that as volunteers, this is what you do and this is where you go. I have gone as far as to message government ministers. Understandably, nobody is responding right now. That is not even the issue. The issue is that generally speaking, there is no coordination happening right now,” Williams lamented.
She added that it was important for a proper structure to be put in place to prevent duplicating functions.
“There is so much duplication taking place. I think it will be more impactful if things could be done in a very streamlined way. We want the volunteers to go in but we don’t want to duplicate anything. We are just trying to support what already exists. Generally speaking, I am saying in my capacity as a social justice advocate, what I would like to see, is this one voice coming out to say this is how we are coordinating all volunteer efforts and we are not seeing that.
“I am working in partnership as well with another organisation called Youth Education Association. We already have on record, over 1,000 young volunteers that are ready to be deployed into the most affected areas but what we need right now is a national coordination effort. Yes, we know that Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management is calling for volunteers, we saw another call from the Council of Voluntary Services but there isn’t a central voice to say this is where you go and this is what you do and this is where help is needed most,” she expressed.
