Hurricane Melissa Aftermath

Katherine Harrison

October 31, 2025

Hurricane Melissa ~ 28 Oct 2025

Update as of 22 Nov 2025

Thank you to a generous supporter in Nashville for funding the repair of our roofs and doors! We still have some recovery to do! Please consider helping out if you can. ♥

Project	Amount
Rebuild school gardens	$1,076
Repair Samuel's house & build protective wall	$3,017
Replace school materials	$1,500

Damage Assessment

If repair to hurricane damage is less than $3,000, I consider it a win. At the writing of this post, we're looking at $2,500 to repair the roofs and doors to the school building, kitchen, and latrines. These numbers include labor for the contractor that we use for this type of work. The contractor had a lot of damage to his home, too, so the wages he earns will help him recover, as well.

↓ This need has been met! Thank you to Nashville! ↓

Structure Repair	Amount
Repair school roofs and doors	1700
Repair school kitchen roof and door	800

Total	$2,500

Donate

Update as of 9 Nov 2025

A lot of water entered the school and damaged pretty much all the paper materials. We had just purchased a lot of materials to start the school year; but we had not used up our budget yet. I'm a little glad that I was slow to send the money because now we have a little to help in the recovery! I know a water cistern was blown down from a roof, but I'm not sure if we will need to replace it.

There is good news: the food cabinet did its job in protecting the food for school lunches. Thank you, Lord!

Because of a landslide under part of Samuel's house, he has damage to his home. He is working with the contractor for an estimate to shore up the slope under his house and possibly build a protective wall.

Since the storm, Samuel's family has been staying with some other village families in the Piton Partnership house that is right behind the school. It is the newest building (2017) and probably the strongest. It tends to be where they go to ride out storms. In this case, it continues to be home base for a few families. Because of a landslide under part of Samuel's house, he has damage to his home. He is working with the contractor for an estimate to shore up the slope under his house and possibly build a protective wall.

Petit Goâve (petty gwav) is the town at the bottom of the mountain where Piton families have other family and where they go to conduct business, socialize, go to church, etc. It was the hardest hit by Melissa. According to the UN, 25 of the 43 confirmed dead (5Nov25) were in Petit Goâve. The town had knee-deep water in the streets for a few days after the storm. Samuel visited several families that he knows to provide a little financial assistance and food.

What Happened

The southern peninsula of Haiti was put on hurricane watch on Oct 22. The system began affecting Piton's weather the next day. He sent a picture of the skies to tell me they were receiving some wind and rain. It wasn't particularly concerning. But the system meandered around and picked up strength. A week later, it hit Jamaica and was large enough to affect our half of Haiti.

Looking at the online animations and simplified graphics, it was easy to think Haiti was out of danger. It takes images like the ones below to appreciate how enormous a weather system is and just how far out the winds reach. The winds that touched Haiti never went above tropical storm strength.

Below are pictures sent by Samuel of the aftermath. He is beginning to send damage assessments and, of course, cost of repairs. Thankfully, no one in the villages were hurt, despite some homes being severely damaged or fully destroyed.

Back in 2018 we constructed a little headquarters of sorts right behind the school on school property, by permission of the village. Samuel still calls it Kay ATI (ATI house). It's been a blessing to have that house because it is more sturdy than the homes of the villagers. Those that are in particular danger from high winds are taken to the ATI house for safe shelter.

Click below to see full size photos.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

Share this post

P is for Protected

By Katherine Harrison • July 27, 2026

Casual observers of the Temporary Protected Status crisis for Haitians and other nationality groups, including a senator from Ohio, enjoy saying "the T stands for temporary," as though we aren't aware. To emphasize only that T is for Temporary and ignoring that P is for Protected is short-sighted, self-serving, and completely misses the main point of the program. These are people who are fleeing situations in their home country that you nor I can imagine. They flee, learn another language, another currency, another culture, AND attempt to make a living to support their families in the US and sometimes their home country. Another detail people tend to ignore is that the TPS program itself does not offer a path to citizenship or residency. No, that is a completely different maze of departments, rules, costs, and attorneys that an already-intimidated immigrant must navigate. And while navigating, they are easy targets for bad advice or worse, scam artists looking for easy money. Yet another detail glossed over is this: TPS beneficiaries are held to the same legal standards as everyone else. TPS absolutely does NOT protect against criminal behavior. They risk deportation as a consequence of breaking the law. Today's ending of TPS for Haitians is so egregiously against our country's stated ideals of Refuge and Opportunity: Welcoming people seeking freedom, safety, and a better life. Haitians are being told to return to their home country where they will certainly encounter one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises that is being fueled by gangs using guns FROM THE USA. Yes, it’s been a long while since Haiti was granted TPS status in 2010. In hindsight, the status maybe could have been revoked some years later. But what to do when the country has devolved into its worst state since 2010? Apparently, this Christian country says, “sorry; temporary.” Keep in mind: Our own State Department says "Do Not Travel to Haiti," providing warnings with such strong language as "murders, kidnappings, robberies, assaults, sexual assault...." yet the country is deemed safe enough for the return of 350,000 Haitian bodies. Our own FAA has banned all flights to Port-au-Prince. To deport, the government will have to use charter aircraft, or military aircraft. Note: when the US government sent flights back to Guatemala recently, the cost to the US taxpayer was $8,000 per deportee. Multiply that by 350,000 Haitian TPS holders: $2.8 million of taxpayer dollars. TPS beneficiaries are providing valuable services to U.S. society and contributing to our economy; they are paying taxes into the US economy and will NOT receive any benefits back from the government (Soc. Sec., unemployment, Medicare); their reward is being in America. The lives of Haitian TPS beneficiaries will certainly be endangered by their return. They will be targeted by gangs for the simple fact they had the courage and means to leave the country in the first place. And since the US government has announced that deportees will have a certain amount of US Dollars in their possession upon deportation, lives will be lost on the off chance that money can be taken. The entire country of Haiti is beyond her breaking point; sending hundreds of thousands of souls back there will further stress and destabilize the country.

Public Latrine Construction 2026

By Katherine Harrison • July 5, 2026

Thanks to the support of a generous and practical-minded supporter, we built our first public latrine in July 2026! It is situated between the two villages we serve, Piton & Piton West, on the footpath used by the local villagers, and those coming from further away. Activities in Piton have increased greatly. The population has more than doubled due to the arrival of refugees from the Port-au-Prince area and villages in between. More people visit these two mountain top villages now more than ever, and the need for a public latrine is urgent for the sake of sanitation. This post will be updated with photos as construction continues.