Last week I traveled on the Crown Princess with Fathom, an organization that has partnered with Princess Cruise Line to provide relief to island communities throughout the Caribbean. There were 110 passengers out of the 3000 aboard the ship that provided relief help in 3 of the 4 ports of call.
Our first stop was the island of Antigua-this was the only port where we just explored, shopped and relaxed. It was extra fun for my husband and I to see the changes that have occurred since we were there over 35 years ago on our honeymoon. Back then it was just a small secluded island with a few hotels now it’s a popular resort destination with a lot of tourists.
Stop number 2 was our first relief project-St. Maarten(we were on the Dutch side, there’s also a French side). This island was hit hard by both hurricanes. Here our our first task was a remote beach cleanup. What made this beach so important was it was the nesting place for 3 separate species of sea turtles, all on the endangered list. We learned that when they come on shore to lay eggs if they encounter unknown obstacles they turn around and return to the ocean and don’t nest, hence their endangered status. So we spent an hour and half removing over a ton of plastic, styrofoam, fishing lines, debris from homes destroyed during the hurricane and a damaged plastic single person kayak that was partially buried in the sand. All of this debris was carried in from the Atlantic Ocean. Towards the end of the cleanup one of my friends started chatting with a beautiful young woman who was came down to beach with her dog when she saw the crowd of people. She had moved to St. Maarten 7 years ago from Holland and told us how frightening the 1st hurricane was and what a mistake she had made not evacuating and that when the 2nd one approached she packed what she could and returned to Amsterdam. She told us that the island looked like a war zone. She then thanked us for what we were doing but it she had to get going to her therapy for post-trauma victims and although she smiled through out the conversation, she seemed to have a sadness about her.
Our next stop was an Art & Music Institute, that provides they youth of the community with an outlet for dealing with their trauma through interpretive dance, art and steel drum/music instruction. Here we were treated to steel drum interpretation of the hurricane, dancers and the youth telling some of their personal stories of the storms. We also had the chance to play some the instruments and paint our own tee shirt with the help of the students.
As I reflected on the experiences at the end of the day, I found myself wondering whether I would be able to handle myself with the fortitude that the kids, teens and adults I met seemed to have in spades. For the most part they are happy, they are filled with joy and they don't seem to look back at what was destroyed only what they have now.
I think that this is really a type of true serenity.
For more information about these types of travels check out - http://www.fathom.org
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