The changing of seasons and beginning of the school year often fills the Brock community with a sense of revival and hope, but for 11 students from the Bahamas, as well as others from surrounding Caribbean countries, the need for hope has never felt so strong.<\/p>\n
Brock President Gervan Fearon met with some of these students on Wednesday, Sept. 4 to discuss how the University can help support the Caribbean community affected by Hurricane Dorian.<\/p>\n
Seven students \u2014 including one who joined on FaceTime \u2014 and two parents of Brock students attended the meeting. Several of them haven\u2019t yet heard from family members in their home countries.<\/p>\n
The Category 5 hurricane first struck the northern Bahamas on Sunday before sweeping across the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama Island, likely destroying more than 10,000 homes and much of the country\u2019s infrastructure, with winds reaching 295 km\/h.<\/p>\n
Less than a week ago, first-year Psychology student Jodie Sears moved from Nassau, Bahamas to St. Catharines with the help of her parents. Wednesday marked her first day of classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my first time away from home,\u201d said Sears. \u201cThis is the worst hurricane the Bahamas has had in my lifetime. This is historical \u2014 I\u2019m not used to it. It\u2019s shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says the meeting held by Fearon helped make the small, tightknit Caribbean community on campus even closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, Brock is a fairly big school,\u201d said Sears. \u201cHaving the opportunity to sit down with the President of the University really showed how important this is. I wasn\u2019t expecting that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sears and her parents are still waiting to hear from relatives.<\/p>\n
Fearon, who lived in Jamaica from the ages of six to nine before coming to Canada with his Jamaican-born parents in 1968, addressed the meeting \u201cmore as a parent than as a president.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all have multiple identities,\u201d said Fearon. \u201cI was a father before I was a university president. I don\u2019t lose that sense of being a parent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI share a horrific sense of what\u2019s happened, but it\u2019s also important in the midst of challenges to recognize the resiliency of individuals. Your actions and success here, and your academic career and the things you\u2019re doing, allows everyone weathering through the consequences to know others are pursuing their dreams. Your achievements are creating a sense of hope,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rhonda Rolle, whose daughter is entering her fourth year at Brock, said the meeting provided her and her husband with a sense of comfort.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a parent, I want to say thank you,\u201d Rolle said to Fearon. \u201cI know it\u2019s a small community that you have here, and just knowing that you actually reached out to them says a lot to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sears encourages the Brock community to be educated about what\u2019s happening in her home country.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll you have to do is type Hurricane Dorian or Bahamas into Google,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t understand that we\u2019re more than a tourist destination \u2014 people live there. These are our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students affected by the hurricane are encouraged to connect with Student Wellness and Accessibility Services<\/a>, and faculty members are asked to be mindful that students may need to excuse themselves from the classroom.<\/p>\n