Right away, Witnesses in Puerto Rico also began organizing a relief program. By the weekend after the storm, hundreds from unaffected areas of the island were descending on devastated towns to help repair houses. Also, two boats loaded with food, materials, and about 40 Witnesses sailed over to the small island of Culebra. The radio station there was soon praising the rebuilding work being done. The following weekend 112 Witnesses, accompanied by six tons of building materials, sailed to the little island of Vieques for similar reconstruction work.

Not until Friday, five days after the storm, were brothers from Puerto Rico able to rent a cargo plane and take food and medicine to St. Croix. One of the brothers reports: “From the air the whole island looked like a garbage dump. Entire villages were smashed and twisted. All over the hills were pieces of wood, metal, and debris; nothing green, just brown stumps of trees and burned grass, seared by wind gusts of up to 200 miles per hour [320 km/​hr].”

After ascertaining the extent of the damage, Witnesses shipped in some 75 tons of building supplies. During October, about a hundred volunteers from Puerto Rico helped the brothers on St. Croix rebuild. A Kingdom Hall served as a dormitory. Each day was begun with a discussion of a Bible text, just as is done at all branch offices of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Local Christian sisters washed, cleaned, and cooked for the brothers.

Sheila Williams had saved for years to build a new home, and she had just moved into it when Hugo destroyed it. When she heard that her Christian brothers were coming from Puerto Rico to help victims, she told her workmates. But they said: “They will not do anything for you. You are black, not Spanish like them.” What a surprise they received when Sheila soon had a completely new house!

The following weekend as many as 400 Witness relief workers were on hand. Altogether, work was done on the roofs or in the yards of about 800 families, including many who are not Witnesses. At one relief center, the brothers were feeding almost 3,000 persons daily. In all, the Witnesses received and distributed over 500,000 pounds [230,000 kg] of food and 171,000 pounds [78,000 kg] of clothing, not to mention much building material and many other items. By Sunday, October 8, just 16 days after Hugo hit, all Kingdom Halls were repaired to the extent that all congregations could resume their regular schedule of meetings.

Lower left: Sheila Williams with relief worker who helped rebuild her house that was destroyed