Browse Items (385 total)

  • Collection: Cultural Exchange - Puerto Rico Sustainable Disaster Relief

Raíces Cultural Center Director Francisco G. Gómez talking to students on a service learning retreat at Plenitud PR in Las Marías.

Almost immediately after we arrived at Plenitud PR, Owen asked us to speak to students who were visiting on a service learning retreat from St. Tomas University in Minnesota.

Owen Ingley of Plenitud PR and Francisco G. Gómez of Raíces Cultural Center talking about the work, experiences, and needs of Plenitud post-Hurricane María.

When Raíces first visited Plenitud PR in 2013, their first earth bag and superadobe house was under construction on their land. Arriving in the driving tropical rain, Owen still invited us to step into the earth bag house for our first time to see…

The Juntos Together Coalition, led by Puerto Rican Action Board Director José Montes, and made up of a compendium of groups from Central New Jersey, working together to provide disaster relief support, provided a grant to Plenitud PR for the…

In January 2018, it was evident that the natural landscape was beginning its path towards regeneration, while human communities still struggled to provide basic services like a functioning electric grid and running, clean water. Driving over electric…

Jehovah Witness disaster relief truck in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico.

A stream running through the mountains and into the town of Adjuntas, Puerto Rico.

Many roadside streams like this one rose rapidly during Hurricane María and throughout the weeks of heavy rains that occurred in the mountains through the rest of the season. Scenes like this illustrate the regeneration of the natural landscape, as…

Electric wires laying across the road in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, January 2018.

Sign welcoming visitors to Adjuntas, still showing signs of the strength of Hurricane María, with electric lines hanging across the front of the sign three months after the storm passed.

Just a couple of blocks from the square in Adjuntas. The electric grid was almost completely destroyed in the central mountains of Puerto Rico, with much of it remaining in need of repair for months following the storm in towns like Adjuntas.

Months following Hurricane María, homes remained in need of repair due to lack of access to materials. Debris collected and piled after the storm also remained curbside for months as sanitation services were slow to resume after the storm.

Doña Tinti Deyá, co-founder of Casa Pueblo.

In contrast to the open and inviting nature of Casa Pueblo, the FEMA center for Adjuntas, located directly across the street from Casa Pueblo, is closed up and guarded. The main service advertised on the building itself is small loans.

View from the camping area at Plenitud PR over Plenitud’s land and the mountains beyond.

Overnight visitors to Plenitud PR stay in a campground area of the compound, protected from water and rain by extra pop-up tents and drainage ditches around each tent site.

Sunrise view of the river that flows past Plenitud.

What looks like a mountainside covered in foliage from far away is actually a food jungle when seeds close up. This mountainside if filled with fruits, beneficial herbs, nitrogen fixers, deep rooted plants to hold the soil, pollinator plants and…

Greens and herbs growing in the greenhouse at Plenitud PR. Tender annuals and seedlings are grown in the greenhouse in order to extend the season through water control. The young seedlings and the greens are protected from driving rains and given…

A raised garden bed made out of cement. Owen Ingley, co-founder and director of Plenitud PR, is harvesting greens for a healthy breakfast.

A bed of arugula growing in a raised bed at Plenitud PR.

Tomato seedlings sprouting in the greenhouse at Plenitud PR. Growing the seedlings inside of the greenhouse allows for control over the amount of water the seedlings get each day.

A variety of seedlings sprouting in trays in the greenhouse at Plenitud PR. The greenhouse was heavily damaged by Hurricane María, with repairs happening from the end of December to the beginning of January, thanks to a grant received by the Juntos…
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