ON Friday we went to the west coast where Hurricane Melissa did her greatest damage. As we drove from Kingston to Montego Bay you could imagine the wall of sea water that rose up above the street. Trees — hundreds of them — were stripped of their leaves and their limbs. What was a verdant forest became skinny sticks!

We viewed with reflection what was the beautiful Montego Bay and what it had become. Almost all the roofs of the shacks and houses had either been beaten and battered or had been blown away.

I understand that during the hurricane one young lady tried to run from one house to another but the zinc from the neighbouring house flew off the roof and struck her on the right leg. The result was that she bled to death.

Many people experienced water up to their necks, some drowned. Some children were lifted aloft on the shoulders of their parents, screaming in fear. This went on for days.

There was anger felt in the roaring of the wind, trees and the sea. People sought shelter in nearby houses, and some hotels allowed them in. What was this anger and fury that God sent on this west side of Jamaica? Were we becoming too worldly, losing our simplicity and our sense of being true Jamaicans?

When you think of Montego Bay, Runaway Bay, and even Drax Hall you think of the most beautiful trees and sea, mountains and hills, hotels and guest houses. Truly, this was one of the most glamorous resorts in the Caribbean.

Hundreds, thousands, and even millions of tourists have enjoyed the calm and comforting waters along the north coast. There are hotels that match the best in the world. Many spent their annual holidays there, welcomed by our native people’s warmth as well as our Caribbean cuisine and our natural rhythms in music. Tourists almost saw our people and our country as a fairy tale.

But terror struck us. There has been the theory that God is punishing us for losing our way from being simple to becoming secular. Somehow, Kingston and St Andrew were spared. It had seemed certain that our capital city, Kingston, would have been swallowed up by the fury of Melissa but suddenly there was a switch in the direction of the hurricane. It was so sudden a change that it must have been done by the power of God. It surprised. It illustrates the Lord’s words ,“Stay awake. Be sure of this, if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into.” (Matthew 24:42-43). So, you, too, must be prepared for you know not the hour when the Son of man will come.

Pray for our suffering sisters and brothers on the west coast in Trelawny, Black River, Hanover, Westmorland, Drax Hall, Runaway Bay, and Montego Bay.

Friday was our third missionary trip to aid our poor brothers and sisters. Our Compassionate Franciscan Sisters of the Poor (CFSOP) in Montego Bay lost the entire roof of their convent and chapel at Mt Alvernia. They now live in their medical clinic for the poor, without light or water.

On Friday they welcomed our Missionaries of the Poor brothers, our Missionaries of the Poor lay associates, our Jamaica Defence Force soldiers, and three doctors who spent the day at the sister clinic.

The clinic was crowded with some 600 people who came from the hillside areas and the ghettos of Montego Bay. There was a sense of joy, a sense of hope, singing, dancing, and prayers filled with joy.

What is this Jamaican spirit that is still positive and will not be defeated? It is the spirit of hope. It will carry us through. It is a spirit that we brothers and sisters, our associates and friends, share with all Jamaicans. I am amazed at the thousands of parcels and goods that have been sent to us for our Melissa mission. I really thank you all.

Father Richard Ho Lung

Father Richard Ho Lung is founder of Missionaries of the Poor.

E-mail: mopfounder81@gmail.com

Web: www.missionariesofthepoor.org