Nearly two years after the devastation of Hurricane Maria, the 36 members of the Iglesia Presbiteriana Rosa Gonzalez southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico have concluded that a good way to serve their Guaynabo community is through a church-provided health care facility.
Even before flooding from Hurricane Maria destroyed their home’s contents in 2017, Waleska García Castro and her family faced a human-made threat that could have caused them an even greater disruption.
It’s been more than a year, but the mere mention of the devastation causes Lourdes Perez’s chin to tremble. Tears fill her eyes.
Everything was lost. The coffee trees. The plantain trees. Everything from the farm she and her husband, César Oliver, had been building for more than three decades.
If Luis Ramos Salgado had tried to ride the storm out in his home, he wouldn’t be able to walk down his street on this sunny morning.
“I’d be dead,” he says through a translator, standing in the kitchen of the only home he’s ever known in San Juan’s Caño Martín Peña area.
It’s a pretty port of call.
Mere blocks from where cruise ships pull into San Juan terminal, visitors can find enticing Old San Juan, with its mix of history, shops and restaurants, all open for business, even on a warm but quiet Tuesday night. Veering right, visitors can find conveniences such as bike rentals and a CVS pharmacy, all up and running.
“People go to hotels, Old San Juan and they see the stores open, lights … and they say, ‘Oh, everything is back to normal,’” the Rev. Edwin A. González-Castillo says.
Except it’s not.
A group of 16 Young Adult Volunteer alum, family and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) national staff gathered in Puerto Rico earlier this month for a Relief and Reflection Service Trip commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program.
After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico last year, Presbyterian pastor Manuel D. Silva bore the dual burden of caring for his family and his congregation.
Pastor Richard Rojas describes walking into his sanctuary at Puerto Nuevo Presbyterian Church after Hurricane Maria and sitting down and crying. The Category 4 storm hit his church in Puerto Rico hard. Roofs were torn off adjacent buildings, a metal fence lie twisted on the street in front of the church, and there was water damage in the sanctuary.
