NAMASTE: SHARING IS CARING - GLOBAL EMERGENCY RELIEF, RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION WITH M.I.A. AND CARIBBEANS COFFEE SHOP SVG

“I wrote my first song in Bequia,” wrote M.I.A. on twitter, and “these places have been my island away from my island for the past 20 years. The devastation is unbearable”.

GER3 has received a generous donation from M.I.A.’s OHMNI Foundation [@miamatangi] & St. Vincent based Carib-Beans Superfoods Coffee House [@carib_beans_svg & @eniye__] to support GER3’s recovery efforts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in response to the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano.

Having completed Phase I: Ash Cleaning, Phase II: Homes Repairs is about to begin in Sandy Bay. Its main focus will be rehabilitating homes owned by vulnerable community members, but it will also include capacity building events including a workshop on upcycled organic compost for farmers and trainings on hurricane resistant construction techniques.

The community needs much more than what we can currently support. We are actively looking for donations to scale up the homes repair program, to replicate the upcycling compost workshop for more farmers and to ensure that the hurricane resistant structures training can reach as many members of the community as possible.

Donations at www.ger3.org

M.I.A. is a British-born, Sri Lankan rapper, singer, record producer and activist who wrote her first song on Bequia, the largest of the St. Vincent Grenadine islands. She launched an online fund-raising campaign to aid volcano-ravaged St. Vincent and the Grenadines. All of M.I.A.’s fundraising is going directly to the recovery effort.

CARIBBEANS: After the eruption, Carib-Beans Superfoods coffee house sprung into action as a base for packing supplies to shelters island-wide and raised funds to assist with daily shopping for the shelters. With the work done by JD and Eniye, Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. and her team reached out to them to work together in affecting more positive change during this difficult time.

#community #engineering #research #compost #organicfarming #reconstruction #circulareconomy #upcycling #innovation #resilientcommunities #regenerativeeconomy #humanitarian #thinkglobalactlocal #ecology #economy #volcano #volcanicash #sargassum #biodiversity #SIDS #climatecrisis #svg #lasoufriere #relief #recovery #reconstruction

Rising from the ashes: Sandy Bay_October 2021

So excited about the innovative UP-cycled Organic Compost Workshop for Sandy Bay farmers....

#community #engineering #architecture #research #compost #organicfarming #reconstruction #livelihoods #knowhow #circulareconomy #upcycling #smart #innovation #resilientcommunities #regenerativeeconomy #humanitarian #thinkglobalactlocal #ecology #economy #teamwork #volcano #volcanicash #sargassum #seaweed #risingfromtheashes #biodiversity #SIDS #climatecrisis #naturaldisaster #holistic

GER3 continues to support recovery efforts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in response to the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano last spring. After two months of on-the-ground work, the impacts of GER3’s recovery programs are visible throughout the Sandy Bay area.

Over 45 homes have been cleared of ash and debris, allowing residents to return to their homes and rebuild their lives. In the process, over 70 people from the Sandy Bay community have received temporary income for their work on cash-for-work teams, providing livelihood support to a local economy that was decimated by the eruption.

In addition, GER3’s home rehabilitation program is progressing though the final selection phase and will soon begin work on a number of homes.

GER3 has also launched programs targeting local farmers, whose livelihoods were severely disrupted. Though six months have passed since the eruptions subsided, farmers remain unable to sow their mountain-side plots due to unsafe access and inhospitable soil conditions, precluding even subsistence-level activities.

In response, GER3 – in partnership with Luke Punnet of Richmond Vale Academy in St. Vincent – launched an organic compositing program that will draw upon local knowledge as well as the latest scientific research to teach and to learn about organic composting methods using locally available resources like volcanic ash and sargassum. This program thus converts local resources of no or negative economic value (ash and sargassum) into fertile soil without the use of chemicals or fertilizers, while providing livelihood support to local farmers.

Luke Punnet of Richmond Vale Academy discussing organic composting techniques with farmers.

Notwithstanding the great progress of GER3 and its partners, much work remains and GER3 will continue to help Sandy Bay and St. Vincent build back better.

Donations at www.ger3.org