Homes for the Homeless - Greneda

In September 2004, the Island of Grenada in the southeast Caribbean suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Ivan. Although it was officially a category 3 storm, winds from the eighty-plus tornadoes which it spawned reached up to 200 miles per hour. The Island was devastated, with over 85 percent of all buildings (including 97 percent of homes), either severely damaged or destroyed. The damage, which is a matter of record, was described at the time by an international relief agency as the most comprehensive ever witnessed from a natural disaster. It was estimated that some 50,000 people (of the population of 100,000) were left homeless. Additionally, while still reeling from this tragedy ten months later the Island was again struck – this time, by hurricane Emily.

Immediately after Ivan, Ministries In Action embarked on an extensive humanitarian relief effort. As a result, we were able to ship seven forty-foot containers with water, food, clothing, toiletries, medicines and mattresses to Grenada and four other Caribbean countries that had also suffered damage from hurricanes. At the end of this effort, we realized that Grenada had suffered the worst from these storms and that many people were still without a roof over their heads. Moved by their plight, we committed MIA, by faith, to build twenty two-bedroom concrete houses, each measuring 540 square feet.

The objective was to select twenty of the neediest families who had lost their homes in the hurricanes and did not have the means of rebuilding. They had to be prepared to invest sweat equity into their building, and to repay, free of interest, one-half of the construction costs according to a plan proposed by them them and agreed to by MIA. These monies are placed in a revolving fund and used to build further houses.

The first ten houses will be completed by the end of 2007, and the goal is to build five more during 2008. If you would like more information about joining an existing team or assembling and leading a team to Grenada please click on the link below to request more information.

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