BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TWO 40-foot containers are being packed with donated necessities that would be shipped early next week to Haiti to assist with relief effort there.
In early October, Hurricane Matthew – a Category Four storm – swept across the island leaving mass destruction in its wake, with roofs torn off from many buildings while some were totally destroyed and hundreds of people dead.
In response, the St. Kitts-Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CIC) made a call to its partners and others to donate to the cause as much and as quickly as they could so that at least one container could be shipped to Haiti.
This afternoon (Oct. 20), SKNVibes visited Island Hopper at the C. A. Paul Southwell Industrial Site where the items were being housed under the supervision of Brenda John, Executive Director of the CIC.
Damion Hobson, Managing Director of Hobson Enterprises, the local agent for Crowley Shipping, explained how his company got involved in the relief effort.
“As the agents for Crowley, Mrs. John contacted us to see whether or not we go to Haiti. We actually do go to Haiti, so I contacted my bosses in Miami to see how we could partner with the Chamber to ship the relief items to Haiti. So today we delivered two empty 40-foot containers.”
The containers are being packed with lumber, galvanize sheets and other building materials as well as food items, toiletries and clothing.
John, while speaking with SKNVibes, described the response to the CIC’s call for assistance as “amazing”.
“The response has been amazing. The wider population immediately started bringing in supplies, clothing, water, things that you would typically collect during a disaster. We know it is a bit unusual to request building materials and people had some apprehension as it relates to how to get stuff into Haiti, but our partners have been very responsive.
“There was response from Nevis as well. Items came in via the ferries and a church on St. Kitts even provided assistance in collecting them and bringing them here to the storage site, and for that we are very grateful.”
John said she attributes the overwhelming response to the CIC’s call for assistance to the fact that the people of St. Kitts-Nevis understand what it means to suffer through disasters.
“Because St. Kitts has had disasters, people understand what it is to go through a disaster, to not have their roof covered at the end of the day, to not know where your food is going to come from tomorrow and having to make that choice of spending money on food or buying roofing material. People have gone through this and have been responsive as a result.”
The Executive Director said both containers would be packed by the end of the day while Hobson indicated that they are expected to be shipped by next week Tuesday or Wednesday and should arrive in Haiti in one to one and a half weeks time.
