Isla Doncella

My heart has been heavy since the the occurences on Sunday. It's hard to see images online on all the damage that was done to the south-west of the island. Places like Cabo Rojo, Mayagüez, Lajas hold a key to my childhood, my family, and my roots. I am living in the diaspora and it breaks my heart how the infrastructure failed the people in preparing for another hurricane. A category 1 hurricane can do as much damage as a category 5 hurricane with a failed infrastructure.

Hurricane Maria hit the island 4 years and 363 days before Huricane Fiona. Many projects and efforts to reconstruct the damages of hurricane Maria had been recently finished in the recent years. Many of those same projects were swept clean by Hurricane Fiona.

Hurricane Maria hit when I was first starting college as a freshman. I remember how horrified I was for my family, especially my dad. I went weeks without getting a word on how anyone back there. Luckily, history did not repeat itself and communication was not cut off. I got to know how he was the following day. His voice was filled with anxiety and sadness but he reminded me "Puerto Rico siempre se levanta" [translation: Puerto Rico always gets up].

Our beautiful island always gets up and is willing to fight. But before she does, the people get up first to help their communities and make sure they are OK.

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If you'd like to help Puerto Rico get back up again, here are some local organizations you can donate to:

Taller Salud | https://en.tallersalud.com/

La Fondita de Jesus | https://lafonditadejesus.org/

Brigada Solidaria Del Oeste | https://www.bsopr.com/

Techos Pa' Mi Gente | https://www.tpmgcorp.org/

Do not donate to any government funded organizations. The resources do not get received by the communities in need.

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