After months of watching the destruction caused by Hurricane Melissa from overseas, Sophia Brown finally saw the carnage when she recently visited her home parish of St Elizabeth.

The singer returned to her district of Carisbrook in early March to distribute care packages to people still recovering from the category five force that struck Jamaica on October 28.

Brown and a team from her Angel Of The Hearts Foundation presented 85 packages containing food, and essential items. The organisation also donated packages to the Marie Atkins Shelter in Kingston.

“It was very heart-wrenching looking from abroad and seeing what was going on in the island. It made me realise that we all have to give back to our community,” she told Observer Online.

Brown was born in Kingston but raised in Carisbrook, one of many farming areas in St Elizabeth, which was hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa. She said her organisation was assisted with donations from Food For The Poor, singer Johnny Osbourne and Barbara Ellison.

Hurricane Melissa caused severe damage to St Elizabeth, neighbouring Westmoreland, Hanover, St James and Trelawny. It destroyed infrastructure, homes, schools and resulted in the deaths of 45 people.

Moved by the desperate scenes, Jamaicans overseas rallied to the cause by donating millions of dollars in relief support, which is monitored by the government.

Brown, who assists people living with Down syndrome annually through Angel Of The Hearts Foundation, stressed the importance of sustained assistance.

“It was necessary to go into my community and give back. It was really something to witness four months after the hurricane,” she said.

— Howard Campbell