Rebuilding hope and homes
Ontario builders travel to a hurricane-devastated village in Puerto Rico to repair and teach
A group of Ontario builders and volunteers have brought hope and homebuilding expertise to a hurricane-ravaged village in Puerto Rico.
In return they’ve formed enduring, gratitude-filled friendships and made memories to last a lifetime.
HOPE Agua Vita (Water of Life), founded by Doug Tarry of Doug Tarry Homes in Saint Thomas, Ont., along with Scott Davis of Winmar Property Restoration Specialists and video producer (and Tarry Homes customer) Juan Pablo Hernandez, have completed two humanitarian home-rebuilding missions in the mountain village of San Lorenzo.
They plan on making a third trip this fall.
Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September, 2017, causing an estimated $90 billion in total damages, with housing damage pegged at $37 billion.
The bridge connecting San Lorenzo to the municipality of Morovis was decimated by flooding, forcing residents to wade through the Rio Grande de Manati to find food and water.
They lived without electricity for months.
“The first time anyone goes there to do this work, it’s just heartbreaking,” says Tarry, who found homes infested with mould, standing water full of breeding mosquitoes and rotting garbage.
“You have to put your best smiley face on and get at it.
“The village was eight months without hydro and there are still places that don’t have it.
“There is also intermittent running water. “These people are poor, and the money they receive from FEMA (the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency) is not nearly enough to cover the cost of repairs,” he adds.
Months before Hurricane Maria struck, Tarry launched Project Hope to aid the family of a popular St. Thomas building official who died of lymphoma, leaving his wife and two young children. Tarry and volunteers built a 1,440-squarefoot Net Zero house in 39 hours, sold it and donated the profits to assist the family.
“It was a magical experience, and we had 600 volunteers,” says Tarry. It ignited a passion in him, and when Hernandez suggested they could help Hurricane Maria victims, Tarry didn’t hesitate.
After an assessment visit to Puerto Rico with Davis and Hernandez early last November, Tarry returned this past January with 12 volunteers. They used four-wheel-drive vehicles to get through the river to the village, “which was disconcerting when you did it at night,” Tarry recalls. “There were no street lights, so you were literally playing chicken in the middle of intersections.”
Then in May, he returned with a group of 25 that included trades people, three engineers, a Fanshawe College professor for the Women in Carpentry program, and a University of Western Ontario graduate student studying wood-frame roofing in hurricane zones. HOPE Agua Vita raised $40,000 for each mission.
James Bazley, owner of Gregor Homes in Barrie, acted as projects manager; Scott Davis was assessment and remediation supervisor; and Central Elgin chief building inspector Leon Bach was construction training and inspection co-ordinator. Tarry’s wife Carolyne handled logistics and she and her friend Chris Davis did community outreach. Hernandez, who is originally from Colombia, provided translation and liaison.
The island’s homes have three basic types of construction: concrete houses with concrete roofs that were badly damaged by water; concrete houses with wood roofs that suffered severe damage; and wood houses with wood roofs that were catastrophically damaged.
The January group of volunteers found an elderly couple sleeping on a wet mattress in their damaged house. They bought them a new mattress, cleaned up the house and waterproofed their roof. When they returned four months later, the Canadians found the roof had not leaked and the couple was in better health. Another roof was fixed during the May expedition and it gave locals on-the-job training about how to make the repairs.
Stefanie Coleman, owner of London-area renovation company Pretty Smart Homes, didn’t hesitate to join HOPE Agua Vita’s May mission after working alongside Tarry at a 2011 Dominican Republic humanitarian build and the Project Hope home in St. Thomas last year.
“It was a fantastic experience,” says Coleman.
“I like that it’s a multi-faceted project, not just helping people but coupling that with learning as it relates to research and development on-site with durability and resilience in homes.”
She helped to train the village’s women to seal concrete roofs and install flashing to waterproof windows. The highlight for Coleman was teaching five women how to use a tape measure.
“Two had broken English and the rest had none — but they understood numbers and I was able to explain it that way. Within 45 minutes, they all got it,” she says. “Something we take for granted gives these women a basic skill to be able to move forward to work on their own.” Villager Reuben De Leon showed up every day in the sweltering May temperatures. “His wife was recovering from cancer and he is going blind. But they were so grateful to know their house is safe and solid. She became like our mom, and one day showed up with fresh chicken soup.”
“It was so hot, the shift started early and ended by 3 p.m.,” says Tarry.
“We built a house and fixed two more roofs. We taught the mamas and grandmamas how to repair a concrete roof.
“We bought tools and material and are now trying to mentor them to form their own company. The women are hilarious as all get-out. They are fun to be around,” he adds.
Larry Brydon, vice-president of business development for Vaughan company Cricket Energy, volunteered for the May mission. His expertise is solar power but his role in Puer- to Rico was as labourer.
“I give all the credit to the carpenters and other trades,” says Brydon. “They did all of the skilled work, and worked nonstop. I was really impressed.”
Brydon will volunteer again. “Our company has a philosophy to give back and this was a way I could personally give back. This was a bunch of people of different backgrounds who hadn’t worked together to any large degree.
“It was inspiring how everyone pulled together, and we are all still in communication.”
Tarry says the Ontario volunteers gained insights about making houses more resilient to extreme weather events.
“Puerto Rico is Ground Zero for climate change and is a target-rich environment,” says Tarry. “It’s a great opportunity to study and to learn if we can do this cost-effectively with an unskilled labour force.
“If I can teach a Puerto Rican grandmother who has never swung a hammer how to do this, don’t tell me it’s hard.”