Quakers and Recent Hurricanes

Landslide from Tropical Storm Nate Affected Monteverde
Friends School in Costa Rica

Hurricanes are not respecters of persons, or places. Intensified by climate disruption, deadly hurricanes and storms swept through the Caribbean, Latin America and parts of United States, especially Florida and Texas, with unprecedented force. Quakers were among those affected by these historic storms.

Kenya Casanova, a Cuban Friend, reported the damage from hurricane Irma in her area mostly affected agriculture and homes. There was a total loss of 20 million Cuban pesos, with 2582 houses damaged and 100 totally demolished. There was a lack of some food and construction materials, but not much damage to the roofs of the Friends’ houses. The properties of Friends Churches were spared.

Live Oak Meeting in Houston, TX, was unharmed by Hurricane Harvey and remained high and dry. Other Houston Friends were not so fortunate. Friendswood Friends Church was flooded, as well as many of their members' homes. Bayshore Friends Church in Baycliff, Lighthouse Fellowship of Friends in League City, and Friends Community Church in Angleton were also affected.

Hurricane Irma did not affect Tampa, FL, Meeting as badly as expected, though a Tampa Friend reports that residents are feeling the effects of climate change through more frequent and more severe flooding. She has sold her family home in anticipation of what climate disruption will do to her area in the near future. 

Monteverde Friends School was seriously affected by Tropical Storm Nate which created a state of emergency in Costa Rica and also in Monteverde, a small community located in the Cordillera de Tilarán. Roughly a four-hour drive from the Central Valley, Monteverde is considered a major ecotourism destination in Costa Rica. Cut off from the main town of Santa Elena by a washed out bridge, no electricity/internet/telephone, limited water and food supplies, and uncertainty about future landslides and safety of their persons and houses, Monteverde’s small community of Quakers came together to support each other and safely navigate the challenges.

Monteverde was first settled by 11 Quaker families from Alabama who decided to leave the United States and settle in Costa Rica in the early 1950’s.  They did so because of strong beliefs against the military system in the US and because Costa Rica had chosen to abolish its army. Because the Quakers needed a place in which to educate their children, they founded Monteverde Friends School soon after their arrival, and it has operated ever since. The first settlers wrote, “We believe we should try to create an atmosphere for our children in which real values, as we see them, are given first place. As part of this, a school is maintained in which we try to help our children grow strong spiritually and mentally.”  Today, the school mostly serves non-Quaker Costa Rican children who live in the zone. For the many friends who have asked how they can help, the most tangible support is financial donations to the school. Visit mfschool.org/donate to see donation options, and please consider a monthly pledge to provide ongoing support for families in need. 

I am pleased that my meeting, Orange Grove Meeting in Pasadena, has made a pledge of $500 to help this school. I hope that Jill and I have a chance to visit it someday!

Monteverde Friends School in Costa Rica