As Barbados “dodged a bullet”, as Home Affairs Minister Wilfred Abrahams has said – spared a direct hit by a deadly category four hurricane – we find ourselves once again blessed by grace and buoyed by the favour of fortune. Yet this moment of relief ought not to breed complacency but rather inspire action and compassion for our less fortunate neighbours further west.
But as charity begins at home, we must express our profound gratitude to the unsung heroes of our disaster management system. Our shelter managers, district emergency volunteers, and countless others who stood ready to protect and serve above and beyond the call of duty deserve our highest praise. The school principal who made a cup of tea for the lonely old lady in the shelter. The young men who tried to save a community from being engulfed in flame. The brothers and sisters in our fishing community who are letting their comrades lean on them, tears flowing at the loss of prized vessels. All whose acts, great and small, were offered without compensation, who shared, and thus lightened, the burden of Beryl.
These Barbadians embody the very spirit of community, sacrificing their own comfort to ensure the safety of others. Their dedication puts real life into the jingle slogan of ‘this is who we are’.
Now, our collective gratitude must now extend even further beyond words. While we breathe a collective sigh of relief, our brothers and sisters in the southern Grenadines – Carriacou, Petit Martinique, Union, and Mayreux – face a starkly different reality. Some of these islands were flattened by Bery; some remain cut off from communication, their needs as yet unknown to the broad Caribbean public but undoubtedly urgent.
So let’s transform our thanksgiving into tangible acts of humanitarian assistance. Here’s how you can help.
Financial donations: Consider contributing to reputable NGOs with an established presence in the Eastern Caribbean. Organisations like UNICEF have experience in spending dollar-for-dollar on aid, not fluff.
Material aid: Organise community drives for essential supplies such as clean water, non-perishable food, and medical necessities.
Professional services: Those with medical, engineering, or communications and tech expertise can explore volunteer opportunities.
We are already aware of some private sector efforts to relieve better-off Grenadine islands further north, away from Beryl’s direct impact. True compassion has no ROI; humanitarian assistance should not be mere PR.
We urge our government to walk and chew gum – engage public support for humanitarian relief, working in tandem with NGOs and regional partners while coming to the aid of Barbadians. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) through its Regional Response Mechanism (RRM) is a key partner in this endeavour. Getting on top of the situation at home is good politics; turning our national attention to helping those in even more critical need is human decency.
We must also address those voices that argue we should “look out for Barbadians first”. This impulse, while understandable, presents a false choice. Supporting our neighbours and tending to our own needs are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, they are intrinsically linked. We must remember that it could very easily have been Barbados in the direct path of this Category 4 hurricane. Our good fortune today does not guarantee safety tomorrow. By extending a helping hand to our Caribbean family now, we strengthen the networks of mutual aid and solidarity that we ourselves may need to rely on in the future. Our shared vulnerability to natural disasters demands a collective, regional response. In helping others, we ultimately help ourselves.
Let us remember that the grace that spared us comes with a responsibility to extend favour to others. In helping our neighbours, we not only fulfil our moral duty but also strengthen the bonds of regional solidarity that will serve us all in future times of need.
Barbados has long prided itself on punching above its weight on the global stage. Now is the time to demonstrate that same outsized impact in our own backyard. Let our response to Hurricane Beryl be remembered not for what might have befallen us, but for how we rose to aid those who weren’t as fortunate.
In times of crisis, it is not merely our words, but our actions to support our Caribbean family in their hour of need that will define who exactly we are.
Grace and favour.
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