Edna Grant
Staff Writer
In the spring of 2018, Idaho State University student Adolfo Andazola found himself on an airplane with four other ISU students. As the plane began to tuck into San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, all Andazola could see was a multitude of blue tarps.
Throughout his stay, he would learn that the United States government issued the tarps to serve as roofs for the people of Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Maria tore through the island and demolished their homes and livelihoods.
Andazola was a junior at ISU when Maria struck. Even though he was cradled far from the devastation in land-locked Idaho, the hurricane found a way to impact him.
His desire to lend a hand to those affected drove him to register with Community Collaborations International, where he signed up to go to Puerto Rico and aid in the Hurricane Relief Effort. He shared with one of his advisors that he’d be helping Puerto Rico during his spring break, and was then introduced to four other students who were interested in joining him.
The additional four students enlisted in the relief effort as well, and the group founded Idaho 4 Puerto Rico.
Upon first arriving, the team was assigned to the reforestation effort, the goal to restore as much of the lost native vegetation as possible by replanting 750,000 native trees on the island. Although they weren’t able to plant all 750,000, Idaho 4 Puerto Rico’s members did as much as they could while they were there.
Like a regular work day, they’d be up and ready to go by 9 in the morning and would spend their day planting and cleaning up the natural debris that were strewn about the forest areas. They’d finish their days at 4 or 5 and would have the remaining daylight to explore and get to know the local people.
“We could tell they needed help even before the hurricane,” says Andazola. “After a year and a half, those tarps are still in place as their roofs.”
People have been struggling even more after Maria tore through. Andazola remembers one particular instance of speaking with two elderly gentlemen, brothers, who had lost everything. Though their roof was totally destroyed, they continued to live in the house using the government issued tarp for shelter.
Water seeped through the tarp and leaked in around it, causing one of the brothers to become ill. His illness landed him in the hospital. The government didn’t offer any assistance for their lost roof.
Instances such as this one illustrated the dire need for assistance in Puerto Rico to Andazola. He learned that many government groups halted funding for relief efforts, which made volunteer groups such as Idaho 4 Puerto Rico a much needed resource.
Since returning to ISU, Idaho 4 Puerto Rico has worked toward expanding its relief effort and planning its next trip. Its members have shared their experiences through word of mouth and collected a few more volunteers in the last year.
This year, the group going back to Puerto Rico includes 14 ISU students and two students from the University of Texas. This much larger group will be going down during spring break, this time to continue in cleaning efforts and to begin roofing projects for houses with demolished roofs.
“There is still a lot to be done,” says Andazola. “They need help in any way we can help them.”
