Post-hurricane Dominica (Part 3): ‘The cash is for food, everything else can wait’
Emergency cash transfers help a family get back on their feet.
After Hurricane Maria hit Dominica last September, the World Food Programme (WFP) and partners distributed food to the affected people. Now that local markets are functioning, the government — with the support of WFP and UNICEF — launched an Emergency Cash Transfer programme in early December to support 25,000 people for three months. Meet the Pinard-Mitchel family, who are part of this programme.
In Roseau, the Pinard-Mitchel family is living in a shelter after Hurricane Maria destroyed their house last September. It takes less than five minutes to walk from their small dark shelter to the food market, but the distance is mostly an economic one. Let’s find out what happens when this distance is reduced through cash transfers.
The Pinard-Mitchel is a special family. Amid the devastation left by Hurricane Maria last September, parents Theresa Mitchel and Andrew Pinard, and daughters Annmarie and Aneesha, are very clear about what matters the most: Getting back on their feet — and doing it together!
Andrew used to work in the tourism sector, but there are no tourists in Dominica anymore. The high season was supposed to begin in October, but Hurricane Maria came first. His wife Theresa doesn’t have a job: “I take care of the girls,” she says.
The father holds the reins of the household’s economy in the small shelter next to the river, but it is 9-year-old Aneesha’s energy and enthusiasm that keep this family in high spirits through hard times.
“I was listening to the news yesterday and I heard that the government and some organizations were going to give money to families really affected… and well… we are. So, I took my mother to the Ministry to get the money right away,” Aneesha explains.
“I was listening to the news yesterday and I heard that the Government and some organizations were going to give money to families really affected.”
Aneesha is coming out of her childhood faster than she should.
“What do you need the money for?,” was the first thing I asked her at the Ministry, when I saw her smiling while holding the yellow envelope in her hands.
“The cash is for eating today. Anything else can wait,” was her quick reply.
She speaks confidently and clearly to my voice recorder, like a communications professional.
On the way from the government’s building to the shelter, and then to the food market, Aneesha keeps the envelope with the money. Besides Aneesha and her mother, the other person who will manage the cash will be the woman selling fruits and vegetables at the market.
The Pinard-Mitchel is a special family. And they are being well taken care of thanks to the generosity of our donors: the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and MasterCard.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF are supporting the Government of Dominica in providing Emergency Cash Transfers for three months to 25,000 people most affected by Hurricane Maria. The most vulnerable and poor people — who are part of the Public Assistance Programme — and the families that were most affected by the hurricane are now receiving the money which will help them to cover some of their basic needs. Approximately one-third of the population of the island is being benefited.
