7
Location: Anegada
We started off our day by helping out our friend, Julie, and her daughter, Dorie, on Virgin Gorda. Their house had been destroyed in Hurricane Irma, and we secured their temporary tarp roof with rocks so that it would not blow up with every gust of wind. Then, we set sail for Anegada. We got to the island in record time; we topped off at 10 knots! Once we got to the island, we ate lunch and split into different groups for afternoon projects. Our boat is split in two between the programs Preserving Paradise and Rebuilding Island Life. I am a member of Rebuilding Island Life, and we are in the vast minority on the boat with only one other member here while the other 11 kids are part of Preserving Paradise, we usually do the same as the other program except for specific days in which we work according to our program. Today was one of those days, and while everyone else went on a long 4-mile march for a beach clean up, we went into the local community to find the only school on the island and help out. Currently, many schools here are focused on botanical programs in response to the need for sustainable food sources in case of another emergency such as Hurricane Irma in 2017 which has left many of these communities in shambles physically though not spiritually. We specifically worked on setting up new farm patches next to the schools by digging two-foot deep holes to set up support pillars. In this, we got to go through two separate layers of rock with a jackhammer, pickax, and a shovel. It was super fun and satisfying, and then we ended off the night with a super good burrito on the yacht.