Martin HenrySOMEONE HAS to hold and pass the nails and the tools, the lumber and the rescued zinc sheets, and serve the scarce water in the roasting sun. I found myself in the lofty position of the 'hol' ya 'prentice' on the restoration team I worked with to put back on roofs on humble dwellings which had lost them to the wicked huffing and puffing of Ivan.
The skilled men who could precariously balance themselves on rafters and keep hammers off fingernails were volunteering their time and skills at
considerable sacrifice but they certainly needed their hol' ya 'prentices to get their things. In the banter which makes hard work light, one of those tradesmen told me that in the trade the starter who did my job was called the hol' ya.
CENTRE OF ATTENTION
One team member arrived on site flamboyantly on horseback, makeshift stetson hat and all, but no six-shooter. Excitement continued through the neighbourhood. The horse, which could well have been from another planet, became the centre of attention, especially for children and those who have made a
profession of watching work. One little boy, keeping a safe distance but consumed by curiosity, yelled to his friend to, "Come look pon di man cow!"
The gratitude of the recovered ones was pay enough. When dark clouds roll up and rain comes down, as has been
happening in the evenings these last few days, to know that they are home and dry again is thanks enough. God bless you team.
We have to help each other out. Long before the capable Mr. Walker and the Office of National Reconstruction (ONR) reach our patch of disaster by four-wheel drive, helicopter, boat, foot or horse we have to look out for our neighbours.
As soon as the winds and rain of the hurricane had gone, my yard was cut clear by chain saw volunteers who later used the same saw and weary muscles to slice up donated lumber for rafters for decapitated houses. My first post-Ivan ice came from a neighbour with a stand-by generator. Phones charged. Stuff exchanged. Small but extremely valuable gestures of care and support.
NO WATER AND ELECTRICITY
I am writing by pen without water and electricity but I am writing housed, dry, well-fed and grateful. The editor now has the problem to convert squiggles into type.
Deprivation has brought its own blessings in its own weird way. The silence and the dark of night are heavenly. And so was a one-week absence from work. Useful manual labour (not gym and jog) fatigue. Long, quiet dark nights. Sleep sound and deep and refreshing. Bonding with fellow sufferers. Time to talk. I am beginning to wish (crazy fellow) the power would stay off for a while longer. But that's just too selfish. There are so many people, not nearly as fortunate as I am, whose hand-to-mouth daily existence depends on the power. If you are a bag juice vendor, a domestic days worker, nutten nah gwaan without the power.
IVAN SURVIVORS
Has anybody seen the normality switch? The Prime Minister seems to have lost it. Barbara Carby, running the Office of Disaster Preparedeness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), doesn't seem to know where it is. In any case it is going to need JPS power to work. A number of irrational and unreasonable Ivan survivors believe that someone, somewhere can flick the normality switch and return everything to normal, just so. Their clamour is a major pain in the .....
Basic survival needs are the most urgent: water, shelter, roughly in that order. Local assistance absolutely must lead any big national response out of Kingston.
Ivan, the breaker and shredder, has given us a clearer view of things. I am revelling in the clear, long distance view and in the close-up view into previously concealed nooks and crannies. And standing on roofs on a clear bright day as hol' ya improves the view.
We should have a clearer view of the importance of community and local organisations, and a clearer view of the limitations of Government. Ivan ripped off the veil to expose the unravelling of community at critical points and the reliance on big Government out there.
TRIBAL POLITICS
Ivan has exposed the nastiness of the entrenched tribal politics in reaction to which extreme, contorted efforts have to be made to ensure fairness in relief and reconstruction. And those efforts hold no guarantees. What a thing when a Prime Minister has to search with a candle at noon to find one magic man to lead the ONR.
Ivan has exposed the ubiquitous guns if they were ever concealed. Shooting in shelter in St. Ann. Armed clean-up man arrested in St. James. The massing of local militias in the hurricane, engaging the police. The crime hurricane isn't blowing away. The growing threat to the State has been made more visible by Ivan The Terrible.
'The Terrible' has assumed his own personality. True to our Jamaica style, rooted in the African tradition, Ivan has been made into a person (anthropomorphised). And the folklore around him is growing with the endless exchange or embellished stories and jokes. The eye missed us because JPS turn off the light and Ivan couldn't find the lan'. If the 'van' do wi so bad, suppose the 'I' (eye) did come. Tek bad things mek laugh.
Martin Henry is a communication specialist.
