Homes for the Homeless - Grenada

In September 2004, the Island of Grenada in the southeast Caribbean suffered a direct hit from hurricane Ivan. Although it was officially a category 3 storm, winds from the eighty-plus tornadoes which it spawned reached up to 200 miles per hour. The Island was devastated, with over 85 percent of all buildings (including 97 percent of homes), either severely damaged or destroyed. The damage, which is a matter of record, was described at the time by an international relief agency as the most comprehensive ever witnessed from a natural disaster. It was estimated that some 50,000 people (of the population of 100,000) were left homeless. Additionally, while still reeling from this tragedy ten months later the Island was again struck – this time, by hurricane Emily.

Immediately after Ivan, MIA embarked on an extensive humanitarian relief effort. As a result, we were able to ship seven forty-foot containers with water, food, clothing, toiletries, medicines and mattresses to Grenada and four other Caribbean countries that had also suffered damage from hurricanes.

At the end of this effort, we realized that Grenada had suffered the worst from these storms and that many people were still without a roof over their heads. Moved by their plight, we committed MIA, by faith, to build twenty two-bedroom concrete houses, each measuring 540 square feet. The objective was to select twenty of the neediest families who had lost their homes in the hurricanes and did not have the means of rebuilding. They had to be prepared to invest sweat equity into their building, and to repay, free of interest, one-half of the construction costs according to a plan proposed by them and agreed to by MIA. These monies are placed in a revolving fund and used to build further houses.

We recruited a committee in Grenada, drawn from contacts and associates with whom we had worked over the years, to administer the program under our supervision. The project received the approval of the Government of Grenada who also allowed us to ship in building materials, duty-free. We then embarked on a drive to raise the necessary funds and to recruit teams from the United States, Canada and the Caribbean to work with skilled Grenadian workers to build these houses. This has given us the privilege, during the past twenty months, of working with a number of foreign and local volunteers and partners who, often at considerable sacrifice, involve themselves in various aspects of this project.

The first six houses are already completed, and the seventh and eighth are nearing completion. The goal is complete these two and to build five more during 2007.   The foundation preparation is now underway for houses nine and ten and the first of three summer work teams leaves for Grenada on June 12th to begin construction.

Today, someone visiting Grenada would be struck by how well most of the houses look. But equally striking, (though not readily visible), is the fact that about ten percent of the people still have no means of rebuilding. They are either using obviously unsafe shacks on their lots or accommodating their families on the “ground floor” of relatives’ homes, hastily made ready in the aftermath of the storms. In some cases, families have had to be split among relatives and friends at different locations. Worse yet, all sources of help seem to have dried up and MIA may well be the only organization still giving this kind of assistance at this time. There can therefore be no question as to the continued necessity of this ministry. We thank God for the opportunity to help some of these needy families.