Featured

We Will Return Home: Providing Hurricane Relief Through Music

By  | 

“7 months old when I first touched down. Friends I found and they’re a family now … Home, come back home, the love that helped you grow, oh it’s waiting here with all you’ve known. Home, come back home, feel the lighthouse hope, when you’re coming home to Abaco.” Lyrics from Come Back Home by Piera Van De Wiel (Copyright 2019 Piera Van de Wiel)

On the Sept. 1, 2019, Hurricane Dorian, a category five hurricane, devastated the Abaco Islands, a place I have called home since I was 7 months old.

Our friends and family had to fight for their lives with sustained winds of up to 185 mph and gusts up to 225 mph that destroyed homes.

Sea surges burst through front doors, leaving people no choice but to swim out of their houses to stay alive and find shelter.

Weather experts are trying to better describe the phenomenon and are now referring to it as a super tornado.

There were countless tragedies, including a son holding his child with one arm and his mother with the other as a piece of debris slices his arm off, taking his mother off into the waters, never to be seen again.

The government have said that 1,300 people are still missing, which may include an unknown number swept out to sea.

hurricane

Now thousands of people have been displaced and have nothing to go back to. All the history is now memories, laced with rubble.

I have been going to Treasure Cay and the surrounding Abaco islands for 25 years, where I met incredibly special people and locals who have become close friends and family. A myriad of stories and people who are now refugees with no homes, no businesses and properties destroyed.

#STRONGERBAHAMAS — Stronger With Music

I didn’t know what I could do to help, but I knew music was the answer.

It is at times like these when we need each other to come together through music. I am the founder of Stronger With Music, an artist collective that promotes the importance of music and mental health. Music brings people together. It is with this in mind that I decided to include members of the community of Abaco singing the chorus at the end of my song, to show that we will get through this by working together.

I received so many incredible voice memos singing along to my ending chorus, with comments such as:

 “We had such fun singing along to your song”

“We laughed for the first time since the disaster happened”

“At first there were tears, but then we thought how special to be included in this community”

“Thank you for building a song to remind people that all is not lost — we have each other.”

It gave me hope that the community can be strong once again.

The footage from the video is from the community in Abaco. 

My biggest fear was that if there was no infrastructure, no running water, no electricity and no future date of when this will be rectified — how do we keep up the hope for people returning? And will the people return to Abaco?

Tara Diane Sawyer and her Uncle Felix Sawyer

Tara Diane Sawyer is the daughter of Florence and Forty Sawyer who run Café La Florence in Treasure Cay, home of the world famous cinnamon buns. Tara Diane runs her own company called Star Events. I have known Tara Diane and her family since I was a baby. I asked her a couple of questions about what the future holds for her and her family.

Piera Van De Wiel: What are your thoughts on going back to Abaco?

Tara Diane: As for right now there is no infrastructure for us to return home. Abaco is my home, particularly Treasure Cay, and I do plan to return.

P: Would you rebuild your businesses and homes?

T: We had a family business in Treasure for 30 years (Café La Florence) and my personal business Star Events. It’s within our businesses we were able to meet so many wonderful people who have become not just friends, but also family. So many of them have reached out to us at this difficult time. So yes, we are going to rebuild our businesses and our homes.

P: What do you need to “Come Back Home?”

T: We need power, water and building materials.

P: What message do you have for the people of Abaco, Bahamians and our readers?

T: Together we are a force. Let’s make this a unified effort and let’s rebuild our communities back better and stronger.


hope

Florence Sawyer

I’ve also been in contact with Cindy Pinder, from Marsh Harbor in the Abacos. She began by mentioning the Abaco Relief song:

“Your song was beautiful and full of hope and a reminder of why we live in Abaco. I listened to it and watched the video with tears streaming down my face.”

Piera Van De Wiel: Cindy, are you going to rebuild your business in Abaco?

Cindy Pinder: We desperately want to rebuild our farm — we just celebrated our 25th anniversary of growing and feeding chicken to the Bahamas — but government regulation has become a stranglehold on doing business over the past year or two. So much so, that unless the government makes serious changes in regulation, we will not rebuild our family farm, they’ve made it too complicated to function. Being in business is stressful enough, fighting the government every step of the way is a deal breaker.

P: Will your family remain in Abaco?

C: My family is still here. Three of the four of us still have our homes. Our oldest son, Lance’s home was located in Treasure Cay. His home is a complete loss. We have been so overwhelmed with everything trying to provide water, ice and chicken to our fellow Bahamians that we haven’t had time to think of what he will do next.

P: What message do you have for the people of Abaco, Bahamians and our readers?

C: The government has let us all down tremendously with their response to this disaster and has provided nothing so far to help us deal with it or to move forward. If Abaco is going to rise again and be the wonderful island we love, it is up to us to make it happen. It is time to re-think the status quo and start afresh so we [Abaco] can be better than we were before.

hope

This is what the beautiful Lasasha Williams said from Treasure Cay:

Piera Van De Wiel: Where are you at the moment, Lasasha?

Lasasha: At the moment I’m in Freeport for a few months.

P: Will you rebuild?

L: Yes we will rebuild our homes and businesses back.

P: And will you definitely return to the Abacos?

L: Abaco is my home and home is where the heart is.

Creating a Hopeful Future

So, how are we looking forward? What is the plan of action?

The most important message to spread is to keep the HOPE.

hope

The infamous Hopetown lighthouse still stands – we have hope for the future.

We need to start with focusing on clearing the debris, to crush the concrete, safe disposal of all wood, scrapping of cars, metal items and refrigerators, look into the return of electric power and distribution. We should look into Green Energy and creating a sustainable energy plant.

It is important that the Abaco Cays affected become a magnet for new investment. A new blue print has to be written. We need to help them — help them rebuild and come back home.

Please consider donating to help the people of Abaco.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *