Finding Solidarity in the Wake of Hurricane Maria

Presidential Leadership Scholar, Marta Michelle Colon reflects on the personal toll a natural disaster can have, and how she, her son, and others are benefiting from the support of her PLS family

We tend to forget that our lives can drastically change in a matter of seconds. We also forget that while days are long, life can be very short.

After the night of September 19th, I have gratefully learned to embrace both of these facts. While the furious and merciless Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico for over 12 hours, I felt scared, powerless and voiceless. There was nothing I could do to protect my family beyond evacuating our apartment at 4:30am. Even as the winds felt so strong that our windows could fly away; water kept coming into the living room and my son’s bedroom like a mad river flow, making it difficult to move safely around our home; the building swayed in all directions and we saw trees, garage doors; and even shutters flying away, the solidarity and collaboration of my neighbors made the terrible experience a less terrifying one.

The same strong solidarity that I felt from my neighbors, I felt from my Presidential Leadership Scholars (PLS) colleagues, who, hours before the Hurricane hit Puerto Rico, started contacting me, checking on my family, offering their homes, and even putting themselves at the disposition to send emergency supplies. Their acts of kindness made my days less cumbersome and made me feel more hopeful.

As days went by, somberness started sinking in. There was no water, electricity, food, gas, access to healthcare and the underserved families’ needs became abysmal. During one of the many long nights, Salvador Gabriel — my 15-year-old son — was looking out the window into utter darkness, asking himself — and me — what he could do to make those in greater need feel better. He answered his question expressing that even though we were surrounded by family, nights made him feel lonely — so he was certain those in rural communities felt the same. He was also concerned that people were wearing the same clothes for days or washing them in streams that were infected, making them a magnet for bacteria, infections, and viruses.

At 15 he decided to create a program to address these public health issues from an emotional and physical standpoint. The only request he had for me was to get him in touch with people that could help him make this happen. I immediately thought about my PLS colleagues — Neha Misra, Co-Founder of Solar Sister who not only provides light to communities in Africa, but she also enlightens everyone she meets, and Brad Israel, who as we had talked about his experiences in Afghanistan made me certain his big-heart, solutions-oriented mind could guide Salvador Gabriel in the right direction.

In less than two days, Neha and Brad helped Salvador Gabriel’s vision became a reality. Other PLS colleagues supported him in figuring out the best fundraising platform, connected him to product suppliers, and went overboard sharing the fundraising efforts through their networks — beyond financially supporting his campaign. My PLS family helped Salvador Gabriel learn that small actions can create great impact, and have driven him to be consciously aware that there is no such thing as obstacles when you have the vision to provide support to those in need.

Almost 60 days later, I still receive thoughts of love, support, and solidarity from my PLS family. As I have learned to live a new “normal”, I am grateful for 2017. I have learned to live differently and appreciate the signs of a growing leaf in a tree, a nice glass of cold water, and the joy of opening my eyes to a new day full of positive challenges that make me stronger. Even better, I am grateful for the privilege of being surrounded by extraordinary human beings that I no longer call my PLS friends, but my family.

Related posts:

So I got distracted by Slack and email again this morning. Wanting to post my last podcast listen into #av_community_talk I ended up replying to freerangers last post. At least today I think I was…

I wanna hoop. Looking through the board of glass, Translucent and scuffed up, On the other side clouds of dawn Give way to the morning sun. The morning sun shines down on me, I’m grateful for my…

tl;dr About a month ago, Rafaëlle and I crossed the channel to attend the Twilio Signal London, it was a great event as usual, I can’t wait to be in SF next October ! But in this article, I’d like to…