In late October, Belize was hit hard by Hurricane Richard. The eye of the hurricane went right over Belmopan and left a wave of devastation in its wake. Everybody is thankful there were no fatalities during the storm, which is really amazing. But there was massive damage to the infrastructure. Mark Parcher and I did the math and the economic impact on Belize is the equivalent of a $20 billion impact on the United States.
A few of the PathLight students and their families saw personal losses such as rain damage to the interiors of their homes (some kids lost textbooks as well, but this is relatively minor). We are very thankful that the losses were minor and fairly easy to repair.
But the biggest damage was to PathLight’s facility in Belize, also known as Jaguar Creek.
One of the hard hit cabanas at Jaguar Creek
I’m flying to Belize on Monday to take a look at this damage. The PathLight directors, Mark and Adrienne Parcher, are already there . Our unbelievable crew has been clearing debris and making emergency fixes, but we have yet to make decisions about the long term repairs. Of our 14 buildings, 12 have sustained some damage, and two have been extremely hard hit (one appears to be irreparable … we have to scrap it and start over).
This is clearly expensive. Hurricane insurance is not available for Jaguar Creek, so we have to pay for these damages our of our general operating fund. That’s a real challenge for any non-profit organization but especially one as young as PathLight. Once we have a budget and I understand the scope of the work to be done, I’ll send out an update about how you can help.
Most damage was done by huge trees falling onto the buildings and boardwalks.
For now, I suggest two simple things. If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to my blog by either clicking the big red “Subscribe to RSS” button above or by entering your email in the box on the left. This way you will be kept in the loop as I report from Belize.
The second thing you can do is subscribe to the PathLight newsletter. There’s a link on the left with the PathLight logo that you can use to do this, and then you will get monthly updates.
Thanks for your prayers during this time!