This is from an email I received from Sadhu, I hope he doesn't mind me sharing. I would love to help but am dealing with the same situation of a hurricane battered island here on St. Croix.
As most of you know, the entire island of Puerto Rico was hit hard by category 5 hurricane Maria on September 20th. The hurricane was the worst in the island's recorded history and caused severe damage and devastation in all parts of the country. It took many lives - the exact count will not be known before the center of the island will be accessible again - and it destroyed much of the local infrastructure. The situation can only be described as catastrophic.
Almost two weeks later, gasoline and food are still rationed and it is estimated that rural areas will be without electricity, water and phone for six to twelve months. Sanitary conditions are deteriorating and there is no end in sight in terms of getting landslides and devastated nature under control again.
Unfortunately, Govardhan Gardens, which has served the Caribbean for the last 20 years as the most diversified source of tropical fruit, nut and bamboo species, has been hit directly, as were practically all farms in Puerto Rico. Four out of five nursery structures (and plants) were obliterated; over one thousand trees are down, and most of the surviving trees heavily injured and defoliated. In total, about 80% of the botanical collection are lost. Since many of these species were the only existing ones in the Caribbean, they are extremely difficult to replace.
The total loss was so enormous, that I was not certain that I can afford to clean up the farm again (chainsaw work for 1.5-2 years) or not. Just to clean up the farm would cost around $30,000, and there would be only expense during this period, without much income opportunity. The damage of collapsed structures and other features of the property are in the tens of thousands of Dollars. The collection was priceless, but if one would want to put a price tag on it, its over $250,000.
I weighed my options carefully and I decided to try the following:
- Clean up the entire farm, if possible in 1.5 years or less
- Repair the landslides
- Restore the fruit tree nursery again over the next few years
- Rebuild and expand the bamboo nursery
All of this can be done for approximately $40,000. This is still a larger amount than I could come up with myself, but if at least a fraction of it could be raised, there is hope to save Govardhan Gardens.
I already received one substantial offer to start the process of restoring as much as possible, and I will start the work already within the next days. It will be physically very demanding to cut up hundreds of thousand of pounds of fallen trees and then integrate them into the eco system of the farm but I have made my decision to commit myself to the task.
On a larger scale, the eco system of Puerto Rico is in an extremely precarious state now. We desperately need more ecological role models to save our environment before it collapses completely. For this reason, I will expand my services of providing tropical bamboo species that are hurricane resistant and extremely helpful for erosion control.
Although I am hesitant to ask for support, I have no choice this time but to reach out to all friends of Govardhan Gardens. I know that the economy is affecting everyone because it is designed to feed only the elite and drain the rest of us. But if everyone who is concerned about the future of Govardhan Gardens can help in some way, there is hope to save the project.
If you want to donate for the cause, please send whatever you can either via PayPal to sadhuoroverde@gmail.com, or mail a check, written out to Sadhu (my first name is sufficient) and send it to: Sadhu, POB 8132, Mayaguez 00681, Puerto Rico. Please make sure to declare the donation as "Hurricane Relief Donation".
With my sincere thanks,
Sadhu
www.organicfarm.net