Hurricane Dorian Update
09 September 2019
Hurricane Dorian has devastated the Bahamas. Relief efforts are underway, but the need is very great. All We Can and the Methodist Church in Britain have jointly launched a Bahamas hurricane appeal to support our partners in the region as they seek to provide affected communities with clean water, food and medicine on the northern islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama. Please consider giving generously to support the people of the Bahamas through All We Can’s appeal pages:
https://www.allwecan.org.uk/give/current-appeals/bahamas-hurricane-appeal/
We have received this news from the Bishops of the MCCA’s Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands District Bishop, Theophilus Rolle:
Dear Friends,
Greetings!
My family and I presently reside in Nassau. We are safe, but there has been massive flooding throughout the island.
Hurricane Dorian has been an unimaginable living nightmare for many people; especially the 73,000 people living in Grand Bahama and Abaco in the northern Bahamas.
Many families are in distress. The island of Abaco was almost demolished by the ferocious 185 mph winds of Hurricane Dorian.
Without question, The Bahamas is facing the unfolding of a national crisis. We will need tremendous help from our neighbours in the Caribbean region, the US, Canada, The United Kingdom, Europe and around the world.
The Government of the Bahamas and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) will not be able to provide the level of assistance that will be required for a disaster of this magnitude. Also, such a crisis will adversely affect the economy of our country; since the islands which represented our 2nd and 3rd economies (only behind New Providence) have been decimated.
This disaster will exacerbate our social services as many more people will look to charitable organizations for relief.
Therefore, I wish to use this medium to appeal to as many persons as possible to do whatever you can to assist the distress people of the Bahamas.
May God bless you and may God bless the Commonwealth of the Bahamas with mercy and with grace.
"The eternal God is our refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deuteronomy 33:27
In the service of Christ,
Theophilus N. Rolle
President of Conference
Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands
A prayer for the Bahamas
Psalm 121:1-4
I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep. (NRSV)
Lord, as the people of the Bahamas lift up their eyes to you, to their help, we pray that you make provision for them in their time of great need and great distress. We pray that you give them hope where the situation feels hopeless. We pray that you send aid and help to those communities that are currently cut off from the aid effort, and that all those who need to be evacuated will be found and lifted out of their situation. We pray that you give the Bahamas National Emergency Management Agency the wisdom and support that they need to coordinate rescue, evacuation and relief efforts, and that all aid agencies will work in harmony for the good of Bahamians. We pray that your Holy Spirit will bring great comfort, hope and peace to those who have lost loved ones and to those whose loved ones are still missing. We ask that you bless our MCCA partners in the Bahamas, that they will be a lamp on a lampstand in the midst of this destruction. May they be your helping hands and your loving, hope-giving voice of comfort to the Bahamian people during this time. In Jesus’ name we pray.