Hi everyone,
We hope the past weekend was a fun one for the folks in the USA celebrating the Fourth of July. In the Caribbean, it was a mixed affair as the season's first Hurricane, named Elsa, tore through the region, doing considerable damage to Barbados - often untouched by these systems - and causing flooding in several other territories.
As these small island states continue to grapple with fluctuating Covid-19 infection rates, disrupted economies due to border closures, internal lock-downs or periods of states of emergency, the mental and emotional pressure of dealing with a hurricane so early in the season can be harrowing.
It is one thing to read about a hurricane online and quite another to experience the sheer terror of the stripping of your galvanise roof by winds in excess of 85 miles per hour. One second you are dry and the other there is a sudden downpour into your home and life as inches of rain fill your living space and rising flood waters ruin all you had purchased as furniture, appliances, clothes, etc. Seeing your motor vehicle pinned under a fallen tree and the street having the appearance of a raging river all have traumatising impact on the psyche.
Nonetheless, we remain a resilient people, just as the palm branches often bow but seldom break in the face of the strongest winds. However, everyone has a breaking point and the cumulative impact of Covid-19, coupled with rising unemployment, frustration and despair and added to by weather systems that spare noone can take a toll on even the usually strong Caribbean man or woman.
That is why the article linked to below, though written in the context of the USA, is relevant for us here in the Caribbean. It highlights the fact that the perfect storms of life - climate related and figurative - that come our way, almost without relief, can lead to PTSD and other challenges.
Therefore, be as wise with and diligent about your mental health as you are urged to be with your physical health.
We are once again in the season of the 3 ACEs - childhood, community and climate. Elsa may be gone from our region but she now has the USA on edge. And we in the Caribbean wait, scanning the weather channels and the horizon, knowing we may have more unwelcome visitors before the end of the hurricane season.
The end of November is not too long away, is it?
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