A MISSION OF SERVICE
Norwalk woman to visit her native Bahamas to help those affected by Hurricane Dorian’s devastation
BNORWALK — Delores Scott and her daughter will embark on a 10day trip this weekend.
But the trip to Scott’s home island country will be one of work and service to help those in the Bahamas affected by Hurricane Dorian.
“We’re going to go, and several days we want to help them sort out packaging things so when they bring people in from Abaco, as they come off the boats, they hand out these packets to get them started,” Scott said Monday.
The Abaco Islands, along with Grand Bahama Island, were some of the hardest hit when Dorian struck the Bahamas on Sept. 1.
“I’m not comprehending it all even now,” she said.
Scott and her family are from Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas and an area that was relatively spared from Dorian’s devastation. Many members of her family, including her sister, nieces and nephews, are still there.
“The first three nights (of the hurricane), I don’t think any of us slept at all,” she said. “We were just talking to each other back and forth.”
Scott and her daughter were on the Abaco Islands about four years ago, visiting one of her nephews.
“This is the closest we’re ever going to get to heaven — that’s how beautiful it is,” she remembered thinking about the island.
For now though, that vision remains a memory as the island is dealing with mass evacuations after Dorian devastated the homes and businesses there.
“We have people that are dying and we have to evacuate an entire island,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking. You really have to rely upon your faith in times like these. That’s the only thing that’s going to get us through.”
Scott said she remembered hearing her pastor at the First Congregational Church of Norwalk pray for those affected by the hurricane.
“I prayed so much and my pastor every time he would get up on the pulpit — (the) original Sunday when he (went) up on the pulpit and he said, ‘oh hear us, Lord,’” she said, taking a pause after getting emotional.
Scott said she’s been
impressed by the response to the Bahamas, both locally and nationally. She praised the United States and other countries for stepping up to send emergency personnel to the island nation to help the recovery efforts.
In Norwalk, Scott said she could barely get out of church this week as people stopped to ask her how they can help.
“‘What can we do to help you?’” many have asked her, she said. “Now that is really — that’s when you give with your heart. It gives you something to believe in all over again.”
Scott said the First Congregational Church has been raising money to send to the Bahamas through the United Church of Christ network. Columbus Magnet School, where she taught for more than 30 years, was also raising money on behalf of Bahama relief efforts.
The government of the Bahamas has set up a fund for monetary donations from the public via wire transfer to support disaster relief efforts. For more information, visit https://www.cdema.org/
Scott encourages everyone to help however they can and remain grateful for what they have.
“They are a very resilient people,” she said.
“It’ll take a while, but they will bounce back.”