Day 1 - Sidra PR

Hurricane Maria hit the island of Puerto Rico in September of 2017. It devastated the island wiping the power grid out, leveling homes and destroying roads. The death toll was in the thousands. My mother and father were both born in Puerto Rico in the same hospital, delivered by the same doctor who was also an uncle. I’m kidding, they were both born in Puerto Rico but my mom was much older. Cougar. The house that my father grew up in was owned by mi Abuela Ramona Sanchez aka Abuela Monin, until the day she passed around 6 years ago. Neighbors let my cousin Widaly know that there was a lot of damage to the pueblo. The pictures were shocking. Homes that stood when mi Abuela was a little girl. The history that my family has with that town and to see what had happened was really difficult to grasp.

11/18/2017

We made it. Widalys, Mark, Nelly, Lou Lou, Puchito & myself arrived last night very early in the morning. We are staying at Poochi’s parent’s house. The mission? Get an idea of what’s going on over here first hand & fix the roof on Abuela’s house. Feels like something my dad would do.

To the eye, everything looks normal. Cars are getting around from point A to point B. But there is a feeling in the air. Its like a feeling of being wounded but its also healing. Its going to take time. The heart of these people is as strong as is their resolve. They’ve been here before. These people have it in their DNA to recover from this. It gives me a sense of hope. Well….from the little I have seen so far.

Today begins our journey….