Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Unfortunately Micah had to fly back home because of a family emergency and he left at 2 am this morning to catch the 4:15 am flight to Guam. My thoughts and prayers are with Micah as he travels home.
After breakfast, Don, Blake and Jay went to Mercedes’ house and finished what they could. Don and Jay installed hurricane straps while Blake build steps at the entrance of the house.
Pete, Daniel, John David and I returned to Anna’s house and completed the soffits and facia, as well as, the installation of the walls for 2 bedrooms.
We finished work at 3 pm and returned to the campsite so that we could go out to dinner and then visit the American Memorial Park. Unfortunately, when we got to the park, the Visitors Center had closed at 5 pm, so we headed back to camp.
CARE ( Commonwealth Advocates for Recovery Efforts ) visited us for debriefing at 7:30 pm and they explained why CARE formed and what they do and they also asked us to fill out a survey for them.
Typhoon Soudelor hit Saipan in August of 2015 and the whole island lost power for up to 3 months. There were many grass roots organizations that were started to handle immediate needs. After several months the efforts were consolidated and CARE was formed. Initially CARE supplied money for food. The Red Cross organized finding out about the status of people on the island. FEMA did an assessment of the claims to determine eligibility. To be eligible for subsidy, the claimant has to be an American citizen and experienced damage from the Typhoon.
CARE is working with FEMA ineligible people, but we can only work on FEMA eligible at this time because FEMA is funding our efforts. They get funding for building materials and organize labour to install the material by MDS ( Mennonite Disaster Service) and World Renew. They are also looking into funding people to come to Saipan to rebuild homes for FEMA ineligible citizens and asked if anyone would be willing to come back for a 4-6 week period to help rebuild homes.
Ralf Hamm 
Ralf ever since you said you were going to Saipan I was a little jealous. In 2005 my daughter and I were in Palau and Yap. We landed in Guam and then decided which islands in Micronesia we wanted to get to. I am helping Kurt at the Poly One building for another 3 or 4 weeks (Maybe more), and we don’t seem to have any work here in the peninsula, so I would be very interested in helping (Maybe even Dorothy: cooking cleaning). I can’t commit at this moment but would love to be included in any correspondence. I would love to be involved!!
Wieland
Wieland,
I will email John Eshleman and let him know. He is the one who is co-ordinating the effort in Saipan.
They are taking only 10 people at a time and John told me that they are fully booked until January.
Ralf