Hurricane Melissa left most of the migrant workers’ families without food or shelter

Heather Wright/The Independent

“This would be my home,” says Fitzroy Cox as he plays a video on his phone.

“That would be my shop right there…That was one of my house. That’s that over here – this one belongs to me, too. I’m trying to build this one now being completed,” he says pointing at a concrete block building being shown in the video. “I lose this door,” he says pointing to a second story opening where the door once was.

Cox, who is a migrant worker at Enniskillen Produce on Lasalle Line, is showing a video sent from his son in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa ripped through the island nation. The video shows his property where there were two homes, a shop and a two-story cement-block building. Only it remains.

His coworker, Elvis Marcus Dobson, has been checking Google Maps. “This is where my mother lives and uncles and everybody. So, this is my mother house and our business. We have a business right here,” he says pointing to piles of rubble in a drone shot. The only a building with a bathroom remains. Dobson thinks his whole family is using the shelter.

Cox and Dobson have lived through tropical storms and hurricanes when they were home but the devastation from Melissa is far beyond what they’ve experienced. Both say the west part of the island will be without power possibly for months.

Cox is worried about his family. He knows his parents are fine but he’s yet to talk to his mother whom he’s closest to. His father is paralyzed and in a wheelchair and won’t be able to help with recovery. Cox’s daughter planned to set out on foot Friday to find out exactly what he needs. It may take her an hour or more to reach him.

Dobson heard from his family and all are alive, but the cell service is poor and cut out before he could learn anything about their conditions.

From media and Facebook reports they know food and water are scarce and gas to power vehicles and generators is being rationed.

Lambton Shores Andrea Jones Peper was born in Jamaica and has lived in Canada for 36 years. She is the only member of her family to live in Canada. In the wake of the storm, she’s been keeping tabs on her family who live in St. Ann’s.

“In the community, a lot of roof tops are blown off. Their crops are totally damaged. A lot of fruit trees, their veggies, or whatever they’re farming, anything for farming, was damaged,” she says. And that’s her biggest concern – with so much of the agricultural community hit by Melissa, food will be scarce.

“The parts of Jamaica that it hit was, we call it the bread basket of the island, so majority of the food comes from those areas.

“Even the way that they used to eat is going to change drastically and it will take a while for them even to be able to have fruits, any vegetation at all.”

Jones-Peper is one of the people behind a food drive for Jamaica in Forest. They plan to ship barrels of food – canned goods and toiletries – as soon as they can. The Jamaican government is waving the taxes and tariffs on goods being shipped into the country for the relief effort.

“Anyone that wants to ship things to family members or to anyone that they are connected with 60 days. At first, it was one month, and now it’s extended to December 31.”

Jenny Schoeley of Fresh Venture Farms in the Forest area also helped organize the drive. Sixteen workers on the farm are from Jamaica. Schoeley just recently heard from four other workers scheduled to return to Lambton Shores in January – they’re all safe.

“We’re so relieved and happy to hear that – but some have suffered devastating loss and we’re trying to help them as much as we can.

“We are attempting to ease the burden on cost of food, because the hurricane went through their major food production area, and Jamaica anticipates in the coming months…that they’re going to be importing all food. So the cost of food is going to rise. Shortage of food is going to happen. So we’re just trying … to keep food on their plates, and they don’t have to worry about that, while they can then save more money to rebuild things,” says Schoeley.

There is also a food drive going on at Enniskillen Produce. Dobson says its necessary as supplies run out in grocery stores. His relative works at a supermarket. Without power, it’s only open for a few hours a day and small groups of people are allowed in to shop at one time to cut down on theft. Even then, Dobson’s relatives tell him, the shelves are bare.

Cox says food is the number one item Jamaicans hit by the hurricane need “because we’ve got to eat. And secondly, they need a shelter. Even have a one room. Some people don’t have nothing.” His daughter’s step sister is living in a building with only some canvas to keep out the weather.

Organizers of both food drives say people are being very generous. Andrea Jones-Peper says the Jamaican workers here and their families back home appreciate the help.

“We have to come together and unite – unite to make sure everything works out for the good, and it helps to have established in a community that are willing to open their arms to us and help us in such a way that it brings joy to our hearts to know that we have members in the community that are willing to help us and and actually talk to others on behalf of us,” she says. Because sometimes we we are afraid to maybe speak, but we have members in the community that are willing to speak on our behalf, and that is such a wonderful feeling to know … it makes us feel like we’re not alone.”

Donations are being accepted at the Enniskillen Produce greenhouse on Lasalle Line in a bin by the front door. In Lambton Shores, donations can be dropped off at Fresh Venture Farms, Forest Foodland, North Lambton Community Health Centre, Lambton Shores Dental, John Fisher Catholic School and Bright’s Grove Public School.

WHAT’S NEEDED:

• Tea bags
• Medicine (Advil, Gravol etc)
• Powder or can milk
• Baking powder
• Canned sardines/ Mackerel
• First aid items
• Depends (men large)
• bug spray
• towels
• corned beef
• Canned sausage and tuna
• Snacks (crackers, nuts, pringles)
• Ensure
• Cornmeal
• Can baked beans/ vegetables
• Peanut butter/Jam
• Powdered bleach
• Cooking oil
• Dried peas/ vegetables
• Salt and spices
• Protein bars, granola bars
• Rice
• Powder drink mix
• Ramens/ Kraft dinner
• Oatmeal
• Condiments – Ketchup, BBQ sauce
• Toiletries: soap, toothpaste, mouthwash, lotion, shampoo
• Money to help pay the shipping costs

Photos from Fitzroy Cox’s father’s home in Westmoreland, Jamaica.