Blessing across the west

WESTERN BUREAU

When Hurricane Melissa tore through western Jamaica on October 28, flattening homes, schools, and entire communities, Pastor Mary Wildish’s church, Trumpet Call Ministries, became a beacon of hope.

Located in the heavily hit city of Montego Bay, St James, the sanctuary was transformed into a hub of humanitarian action, orchestrating relief efforts that reached deep into the island’s hardest-hit areas.

“It wasn’t enough to just open our doors,” Wildish said, surveying the flurry of volunteers packing food boxes, sorting solar lamps, and filling containers with clean water. “The people need to feel seen. They need to feel remembered.”

From her centrally located church on Howard Cooke Boulevard, Wildish now coordinates 130 churches and over a dozen NGOs. Her network has become a central pillar of the hurricane response, enabling Operation Blessing, led by global disaster relief director Diego Traverso, to reach communities in western Jamaica devastated by the storm.

Hurricane Melissa left a trail of devastation across Jamaica, claiming at least 45 lives, displacing thousands of families, and causing damage and destruction to 190,000 buildings. Critical infrastructure—including roads, bridges, the electricity grid, and water systems – have been severely compromised, leaving entire communities cut off and in urgent need of assistance.

Traverso, who arrived in Jamaica on the first humanitarian flight allowed after Melissa, says it was Wildish who unlocked access to schools, convents, community centres, and remote villages.

“She connected us to pastors, schools, nuns, community leaders. We suddenly had boots on the ground everywhere.”

His 12-member rapid-response team, soon expanded to more than 20 personnel, brought expertise in water purification, medical care, solar energy, and logistics. Bruno Dias, a water and sanitation specialist with Operation Blessing, oversees a machine that converts saltwater into chlorine. Each bottle produced is crucial for disinfecting homes, cleaning food containers, and treating contaminated water.

“This machine uses electricity and two titanium plates to convert water and salt into bleach,” Dias explained. “It’s electrolysis. It means we don’t have to wait for bleach shipments. We can make it endlessly, right here.”

Delivers safe water

to resident

Nearby, a multi-stage water filtration system delivers safe water to residents.

“We’ve been producing thousands of litres of water daily,” Dias said. “People can come any time. Everyone can get free, safe water.”

Operation Blessing, the humanitarian arm of the Christian Broadcasting Network, has responded to disasters in over 90 countries.

Weeks before coming to Jamaica, Traverso’s teams were building homes in Ukraine, supporting persecuted families in Burundi, Sudan, and Nigeria, and assisting communities struck by typhoons in the Philippines. Years earlier, Traverso had overseen chlorine-production factories during the Ebola crisis in Liberia and the cholera outbreak in Haiti – knowledge that has become critical in Jamaica.

In the church yard of Trumpet Call Ministries, volunteers assemble hygiene kits, load trucks with water, and prepare thousands of meals. Mounted just outside is Wildish’s “survival map” – a large laminated board dotted with coloured pins marking communities already visited and those still in need. The densest clusters stretch across St James, Hanover, Westmoreland, and Trelawny, a stark visual of Melissa’s destruction and the breadth of ongoing relief work.

Just a few days ago, she was in Petersfield, Westmoreland, one of the many communities battered by Melissa.

“In Petersfield, nothing was left,” Wildish said. “Mosquitoes everywhere. Babies need formula. Clean drinking water is still a huge issue up there.”

Her visits to these districts, accompanied by disaster responder Josh Gill of the United Cajun Navy, reveal conditions he describes as the worst he has seen anywhere in the world.

Gill, who has visited more than 120 disaster sites worldwide, shared his insights on Jamaica’s situation with Wildish.

“I don’t think the country realises what’s coming,” she said. “The next weeks and months are going to be tough.”

It is a concern that Traverso shares. Operation Blessing is already planning its January 2026 rebuild phase, which will focus on roofing, water restoration, sanitation systems, and the creation of 12 to 16 community hubs equipped with standby generators, water purification systems, sanitation supplies, and emergency communication tools.

Traverso said that funding for the massive humanitarian effort comes from “Grandmas in America giving $5 or $10,” churches, and individuals. According to him, the cost of the relief effort is in the millions, not including the additional costs of manpower, air transport, shipments, and engineering support.

“We were tracking Melissa, hoping it would shift,” he said. “But when it hit, we activated. We’ve been producing thousands of meals daily, thousands of litres of clean water, and setting up filtration systems in the places that were hardest hit,” he said.