December 02, 2019
| In 2016 hurricane Matthew slammed into the southwestern coast of Haiti bringing widespread damage. Matthew was a late season category 5 hurricane that seemed to pop up out of nowhere, but there were signs. We saw it. Across the ocean, Americans sitting in their air-conditioned living rooms, sipping their ice teas, watching their wide screened tv’s, had a ringside seat to the destruction this storm brought. Thanks to CNN, The Weather Channel, or any number of the hundreds of cable channels we flip through on any given night we saw it all. This storm left devastation everywhere; more than 350,000 in need of immediate aid, thousands homeless and hundreds dead.
When a hurricane threatens America we usually know way beforehand of the looming threat. We have the precious gift of time. We may find out a week or so before that there is a pressure system that may form into a tropical depression, and then maybe it will become a tropical storm, eventually forming into a hurricane. Still a threat, but one we can see coming from miles away. Americans are given options, you may choose to put up your hurricane shutters, or go to the store and buy water, and batteries and junk food, to weather the storm. You may choose to hop in your car and drive North to outrun the tropical force winds. You may choose to get a really expensive hotel room on the beach, in a hurricane-proof building, and get a front-row seat to the impending doom. In Haiti, these options are not luxuries, they are a pipe dream. First, many Haitians don’t have windows to cover with hurricane shutters; almost 80% of Haitians live in poverty; many in makeshift tents or shacks. Second, running to the store for batteries and junk food seems a little extravagant when the income for most Haitian households is less than $2.00 a day, they are worried about where their next meal is coming from; and third, hotel stays aren’t really a thing for most Haitians. According to TradingEconomics.com less than 40% of the Haitian population has access to electricity, which means they are not sitting in front of their televisions watching the storm approach, or listening on the radio. Some of the most rural mountainous areas, did not even receive notification of the storm until it was well….there. With less than 40% of the country with electricity, that leaves almost 60% without. There has to be an answer. There is…. Solar Power. On our upcoming trip to Haiti, we are taking solar-powered radios to 2 orphanages with limited communication in the mountainous region of Montrouis. These solar powered radios with long range reception include solar powered led lights with hand cranks so they can be used even in cloudy weather. These radios will provide a much-needed source of communication with the outside world, music, and entertainment for the children. They could literally save lives. Seems like a simple solution to me. |
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