Dr. Yvonne McKenzie has lived in Jamaica her whole life. She has experienced major hurricanes making landfall, leaving death and destruction in their wake, and several others have passed close enough to have severely affected the island.
The Caribbean region experiences an average of 5.8 hurricanes each year and often churches in Jamaica are called upon to provide personnel and supplies for immediate relief for neighboring islands. It is what churches do in the Caribbean. Yvonne, a retired banker, a pastor, a Justice of the Peace, and director of BGU’s MA in Transformational Leadership, offered her thoughts in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa in October:
“We are called to lead from vulnerable spaces. Jamaica is my home. It is a beautiful paradise—a place susceptible to hurricanes and earthquakes yet filled with amazing and resilient people. Hurricanes Charlie, Gilbert, and now Melissa serve as constant reminders of the devastation that looms each hurricane season. The reality of loss of life and property, and the disruption and dislocation that follow, shape our thinking and heighten our anxiety. Yet we rise, help each other heal, and rebuild.”
BGU Chancellor Brad Smith has said, “God called the land He gave to Israel the promised land. Yet, it is located in the crossfire of most ancient and many modern wars. Maybe the promise was not the beauty of the land, but the necessity for the people to depend upon their God as they faced the constant threat of destruction.” Yvonne agrees, “Perhaps that is why there is such joy and resilience in the Jamaican church in spite of the constant threat. We are reminded of the True Promise every hurricane season.”
BGU has over 60 students, graduates, faculty, and staff living in the Caribbean region. BGU has over 40 living in the Philippines. Most of them are part of churches and organizations that serve in significant ways when disaster hits. Hurricane Melissa and Typhoon Fung-Wong may seem far off for many, but not for the BGU family. Global relationships matter to local churches facing disaster.
There are numerous large and small global relief agencies, often funded by the generosity of North America and Europe, that have supplies and professionally trained relief workers ready to help wherever disaster strikes. Innovation, technology, and logistical skills have vastly improved their response times and effectiveness over the past two decades. Yet always the first people to arrive on site are the Christians from just outside the disaster area, with their cultural connection of language, faith, and empathy. The global agencies come later with more resources. To perform their work, these agencies must hire temporary staff, recruit professionally trained individuals from outside the region, and transport supplies from a distance. This middle layer of staff is necessary but adds expense and time.
Many of the larger global agencies are seeking ways to train local volunteers to replace the temporary staff and have to quickly hire when disaster strikes. Church-based professional training can create an army of trained volunteers ready to serve when needed. This means faster, relevant, and more comforting relief in the midst of disaster. With graduate degrees, global connections, and local presence as pastors, government ministers, and business owners, BGU graduates are at the forefront of several innovative efforts to locate people and warehouses closer to where disasters strike each year.
Yet when fire strikes, the priority is to put it out, then apply what is learned to create effective fire-prevention systems for the future.
Please consider making a year-end donation so that you can be assured it will bypass the middle layer and go directly to local churches serving those in immediate need in Jamaica.
https://bgu.edu/aid-for-jamaica
Please consider making a year-end donation to BGU to train the current and next generation of leaders in these areas, equipping them to become key leaders in their nation and provide immediate relief while building better systems to prepare for the annual disaster season.
Photo: APNews