CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Zulehkah Crawford loves everything about her family’s home country of Jamaica.
“Besides the obvious, the food and the water, the people,” Crawford said. “We are such genuine people. We’re loving, we’re caring. I love the terrain when it comes to the mountains. And then you can go down to the beach and the accessibility to just great fresh food, you know, and just relax.”
Crawford lives here in the U.S. Her mother’s family still lives on the island. While she says they are all used to hurricanes, she was a little worried when she first heard Hurricane Melissa was headed for Jamaica.
“With this cat 5, I was a little bit nervous because it was a little more than normal,” said Crawford. “They were talking about it. And so I called my cousin and called my uncle and he said he was OK. She wasn’t there. So once it was all over again, I just felt like, here we go again.”
Crawford says her uncle, who lives in Kingston, was OK during the storm. But her family’s home in the mountains was damaged.
Still, Crawford says the people of Jamaica are resilient.
And she knows even with the damage on the western parts of the island, Jamaica will rebuild.
“I’m just hoping that everyone can have a little grace, you know. Give us a little patience, you know,” Crawford said. “To help us work through this and do all the cleanup and things like that.”
And for anyone trying to send aid, Crawford says to keep in mind that because it is an island, delivering supplies may be more challenging.
“If you’re familiar with a type of organization that you know that the money will get there,” Crawford said. “Or at least you know the dynamic of how they donate. You know, do your due diligence and do your research.”
In the meantime, for anyone looking to travel to Jamaica in the near future, she hopes people are understanding as they rebuild.
“If you love our island and you appreciate it and you know what we’re about, give us some time to get it back together so you can come back and enjoy it with your family,” she said. “It’s not going anywhere. People just need to give us some grace and just work with us. And so we get the island back to where it was.”
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