Inter-American Leaders Discuss Rebuilding Efforts With Maranatha

Left to Right: Kenneth Weiss, MVI executive vice president, Pastor James Daniel, IAD vice president,  Pastor Israel Leito, IAD president, Don Noble, MVI president, and wife Laura Noble review rebuilding needs across the Caribbean during a meeting held at the IAD Headquarters in Miami, Florida, Nov. 13, 2017.  Image by Libna Stevens/IAD

November 14, 2017 | Miami, Florida, United States | Libna Stevens/IAD

Top Seventh-day Adventist leaders in Inter-America met with Maranatha Volunteer International (MVI) leaders yesterday to discuss rebuilding efforts in the recently hurricane-ravaged territory in the Caribbean. Leaders briefly took note of the scope of damage to churches and schools after hurricanes Irma and Maria in the worse hit islands during a meeting at the Inter-American Division (IAD) headquarter office in Miami, Florida.

The Roseau Adventist Church in Roseau, Dominica, lost its roof and was damaged inside after Hurricane Maria battered the island on Sep. 18, 2017. Twenty-eight Adventist Churches were completely destroyed and only five can operate now. Image by Samuel Telemaque/IAD

“There is great need for reconstruction on islands like Dominica, Barbuda, St. Maarten, and the US Virgin Islands, and we wanted to bring Maranatha in to see how far they can help us in rebuilding properties and schools,” said Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church in Inter-America.

“I know Maranatha cannot be stretched much, but they come with good will and good intentions to see how they can help us move further on the ground,” said Pastor Leito.

President of Maranatha Volunteers International (MVI) Don Noble said that the 48-year-old supportive ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church has some 180,000 project requests at the moment, but is willing to look into assessing what it can do in the IAD territory.

“It was here in Inter-America, in The Bahamas, where Maranatha first worked on a project even before the official name was determined,” said Noble. MVI also helped rebuild schools in Dominica after Hurricane David hit in 1979, he said.

MVI will have to get a better understanding of where it would need to start, explained Noble.

English Caribbean territory

Among the many churches destroyed in the English Caribbean territory, Dominica stands out with 28 churches of the 31 destroyed or damaged, reported Pastor Kern Tobias, president of the church in the Caribbean Union. Four schools need substantial repairs including one school that needs to be relocated.

Leaders listen to Caribbean Union leaders through a video-conference meeting on damage assessment in the territory after the storms. Image by Libna Stevens/IAD

“Our school in Roseau [Dominica] is at the mouth of the large river, so we need to relocate it to a property already purchased for that,” said Tobias.

Other churches in the North Caribbean Conference with some of the worst hit islands such as St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, St. John, and Sint Maarten were hit with a total of 30 churches and several schools destroyed or damaged, said Tobias.

Assessing damage to churches and schools is soon to be done with Adventist Risk Management with the properties that have been fully insured and soon, local church leaders said. Afterwards, MVI will send out some of its experts to further assess how and if it can assist in the rebuilding, Noble said.

Dominica will be where MVI will initially visit in the coming months to evaluate church properties and determine what could be rebuilt in collaboration with local and regional funding in the Caribbean Union.

“We appreciate Maranatha International for thinking of the Caribbean people and it does the heart well when the church comes through in this way…the faith and trust of the members is great at hand,” said Tobias.

Puerto Rico territory

MVI leaders also met with Luis Rivera, treasurer of the church in Puerto Rico, who travelled to Miami to meet with MVI leaders and reported on the church property restoring needs across the island.

Luis Rivera, treasurer of the church in Puerto Rico reports on effects of Hurricane Maria. Image by Libna Stevens/IAD

Among the 16 churches and five schools destroyed by the hurricanes across the island, MVI will focus on visiting a community in Loiza, a town with the highest poverty index, an hour away from San Juan, the capital city, to assess the extensive damage to the small Adventist church there.

The Loiza Adventist Church has nearly 30 members in the congregation, said Rivera. “We would like to have that church rebuilt from the ground up and use the church as a center of influence in that community,” he said. There is a plan in place to offer health, education, and family counseling once the center is built, Rivera explained.

“We will definitely take a look during the next few months and see the logistics to bring volunteers as soon as our experts assess the location,” Noble said.

It’s a doable project, said Noble. “A church with a capacity of 150 people could be built in that [Loiza] community leaving room for growth there,” he said.

Part of the damage to the Loiza Adventist Church which will be evaluated by Maranatha Volunteers International in the coming months. Image courtesy of Puerto Rican Union

Rivera said the churches and schools, which still need to undergo extensive repairs, are all insured so it is just a matter time until they will be restored, most likely in the coming weeks or months.

Already, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) International and ADRA Inter-America have committed funds to provide food and roofing materials to families in need across communities on the island.

As for the hundreds of affected church families in the Caribbean and Puerto Rican Unions, the IAD will work closely with each regional office to assist in restoring their damaged homes in the new year.

To find out more about the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America and its projects and initiatives after the recent natural disasters, visit interamerica.org