July 4, 2024 - Week 23 & 24
I feel like a newspaper Editor with multiple front-page news material: for the top fold I shall choose the historic Hurricane Beryl and for the bottom fold Graduation!
On July 3, 2024, Hurricane Beryl made landfall on Jamaica. Beryl is record-breaking in various aspects: earliest Category 5 Atlantic Hurricane reaching 266 km/h and escalating from a tropical depression to a Category 5 in less than 2 days. Both of these point to warmer ocean waters and Climate Change. I've known of Climate inequality theoretically for Small Island Developing States but now that I have experienced it firsthand, I understand the urgency of slowing climate change impacts. I am very thankful I had both wata and electricity throughout this but in comparison, "98% of homes and buildings on Carriacou and Petite Martinique (Grenada) were damaged or destroyed...electrical grid is mostly destroyed...total destruction of the natural environment" per News Sources.
Despite strong announcements from the PMO to shelter, the local news still showed fruit/veg stall owners downtown in operation (Coronation Market IYKYK) and some of the homeless refusing to shelter even though the mayor was rounding them up with a loudspeaker. Some also deemed the Meteorological Service of Jamaica crying wolf e.g. "they announce a hurricane every year and it never comes". Regardless, I was impressed with the reporters out in the elements and the JNN for doing a live feed throughout the entire storm and providing practical and non-sensationalized updates.
Now I am more prepared for the next Hurricane - get canned food early, always have tape and plastic ready, buy batteries, have sufficient towels for leaks, a dry mop, and get cash ahead of time (some ATMs broke down/ran out of cash the day before)! Also, I was called to help prep the school for the Hurricane, which meant spending the day wheelbarrowing plants/cacti from the farm to safer locations. We shall see next week if any survived...
Graduation was accompanied by a thunderstorm but as the clouds poured, the yellow and blue-gowned graduates continued to be in good spirits for this momentous event. For some, it was their first time graduating and for others, it was a bittersweet event marking the end of seeing their friends and teachers daily and venturing out into work-life.
On my part, all three musical events encountered slight hiccups. For the drumming, one student was missing but managed to walk on stage to play just when it was their turn, for the Year 1 Trio of singers, two singers were missing and I was prepared to sing with the soloist but thankfully a missing singer turned up right when we walked on stage. Finally, the graduates (all 42 of them) sang beautifully even though due to the rain we had to rearrange the formation of the choir.
I am super proud of all the graduates and thankful I had the chance to journey with them on their last leg.
