More than 1,600 miles may separate Wayne from the tiny Puerto Rican island of Vieques, but for one group of college students, its people will remain close to their hearts despite the ocean between them.
Nearly four months after Hurricane Maria touched down, battering the secluded island and knocking out its only radio station, nine communications students from William Paterson University traveled to Vieques this month for a weeklong humanitarian mission. The students, including members of the college radio station's staff, donated equipment and expertise, and lent a helping hand to the island's ongoing efforts to rebuild.
"Flying in, what stood out was all the blue FEMA tarps serving as makeshift roofs," said student Aziza McGill Ayinde. "Where there were once houses, you saw tents and a foundation."
Vieques, located off Puerto Rico's southeast coast, became internationally known in 2003 when a series of protests led to the decommissioning of a U.S. Navy base that had used much of the island as a bombing test site since the 1940s.
Cherished by rich and famous tourists for its picturesque beaches and Mosquito Bay, where algae generate a glowing lagoon, the island municipality is also home to about 10,000 permanent residents.
But after 175-mph winds leveled scores of homes and displaced hundreds, locals said it became "a forgotten island," bereft of federal aid in the first 10 days after Maria made landfall.
Today, Vieques, like much of Puerto Rico's main island, still lacks a power grid and is reliant on generators for electricity and intermittent cell or WiFi service to communicate. Residents say running water only returned in December.
Radio Vieques, the island's community station, saw the storm knock out its antennae and transmitter located on the neighboring island of Culebra.
As a result, Robert Rabin, the station's manager and director of the Vieques Historic Archive, said residents were left without answers to pressing questions regarding when power could return or where temporary food and shelter sources may be found.
“I told the students that it became painfully obvious after the storm that communication was our biggest challenge," said Margo Cheney, a Vieques resident and longtime friend of university communications professor Lori Ramos, who organized the effort. "The situation became dire because the radio station was shut down."
Ramos, who has deep roots on the island, invited Cheney to visit William Paterson in late November so her class could chronicle Cheney’s experience during the storm.
After she spoke, Cheney said, "The department’s chair [Robert Quicke] said he would really like to help.”
Out of that visit sprang the idea for this month's trip, which students returned from on Wednesday.
As part of the mission, William Paterson students gifted Radio Vieques' cadre of volunteers with a new computer and ham radio training to help maintain communication should the station go dark again.
“This type of academic solidarity is important,” said Rabin, a Boston native who moved to Vieques in the 1980s.
Rabin and his wife, Nilda Medina, were founding members of the movement that opposed the navy base. The radio station, which took many years to fund, was brought to fruition in 2013 by the activist group, he said.
Referring to the William Paterson students, he said, “This particular group has a special meaning and opened up an important dialogue we hope to grow into an alliance for Radio Vieques. They offer not just material, but human resources.”
When not volunteering at the island’s organic farm or distributing food and supplies to residents displaced by the Category 5 hurricane, William Paterson broadcasting and journalism students also conducted interviews as part of a winter semester project that will air on both the college's station, WPSC 88.7FM, and Radio Vieques.
“People here are telling us they were starving because they had no food or water for three weeks," student and Kinnelon resident Michele Ciz said on Jan. 4, speaking from the back of a Vieques pickup truck used to deliver meals. “There are roofs just lying on the ground. It’s devastating.”
Gypsy Cordova, president of the Vieques City Council, estimated that as many as 20 residents died during the storm’s aftermath due to a lack of doctors, medicine and “proper health environments.”
About 50 homes were completely destroyed and up to 1,000 residents had left the 21-mile-long island, he said. (The official death toll for all of Puerto Rico is 64 people, though officials have been accused of under-reporting the number. Additionally, some estimates suggest as much as 25 percent of Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million citizens have left since the storm.)
Eli Felix Velazquez, 47, a lifelong Vieques resident and commercial fisherman, said a 61-year-old neighbor with diabetes died in a flattened home while waiting for medical personnel to arrive. Along with his boat, Velazquez said his home in Barrio Montecarmelo, named for his father, was destroyed and he is awaiting word from the Federal Emergency Management Agency regarding his insurance claims.
“I think it’s a very good opportunity for the students to see the real world and not just what the news tells them,” said Velazquez, a married father of two children. “The agencies failed us but regular people, like these students, have been wonderful.”
Email: Gicas@northjersey.com
Nine communications students from William Paterson University returned home Jan. 10 after a week-long humanitarian effort on Vieques that included members of the college radio station’s staff donating equipment and expertise. Tony Gicas/NorthJersey.com
Tony Gicas
William Paterson students visit Vieques, forge radio partnership
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