Updates at the bottom of the text

Pictures:

Before Hurricane Melissa

2–and on... After the hurricane passed

Hurricane Melissa hit Black River, Jamaica hard.

We — John from Sweden and Michelle, Canadian-born Jamaican — were married a few years ago, on October 28, at the property we named Thrivers Haven.

Our plan was to open a B&B before Christmas 2025, and we have built eight guest rooms.

Melissa was devastating for everyone in the area, us included.

The full extent of the damage is not yet known. As far as we can tell, the concrete house walls are still standing strong, but doors, windows, and interiors are badly damaged or gone.

Michelle managed to reach the site on November 2, 2025. She found that most of the property’s garden walls had collapsed, and everything not made of concrete was either damaged or destroyed.

We are presently not rebuilding Thrivers Haven for ourselves — our focus now is to make safe, dry rooms for the crews working on emergency response and community rebuilding.

Michelle is currently on-site, and I (John) am coordinating what I can from Sweden.

The basics come first — plywood, doors, and dry shelter.

Every little bit helps us reopen our doors to those helping others.

Any donation, big or small, means hope on the ground.

— John & Michelle, Thrivers Haven, Black River

Update #1 — November 5

Michelle has now returned twice to Thrivers Haven, near Black River.

By chance, she ran into an old friend with a chainsaw❗️Together, they began clearing the property. More people are joining in to help — Michelle is great at organizing efforts like this.

From what I understand, the rooms are filled with broken debris and a few inches of mud. All the glass — in doors, windows, and showers — has been shattered.

In summary, the tsunami-like storm surge — estimated at 2.5–4 m (8–13 ft) — swept through and destroyed almost everything in its path. It was powerful enough to rip out toilets and deposit them all the way up to the road!

At the moment, there is no running water or electricity. Mobile phone service is also down across the Black River area. Further away, where towers might still work, free limited emergency data is available (for calls and messages only — no photos, videos, or streaming).

Amid all this destruction, one small but important miracle happened: Michelle’s passports, which were left behind during evacuation, were found intact yesterday❗️

As for fundraising, we are using several channels, including direct cash donations. A few other individuals, working toward the same goal, have also started their own fundraising campaigns — I don’t yet have their totals.

Our current goal is 50,000 SEK (≈ USD 5,240).

So far, we have raised 16,400 SEK (≈ USD 1,700), with promises of more coming soon — that’s already almost 33 % of the goal!

Update #2 — November 8

Michelle has been returning to Thrivers Haven (the beach property, close to Black River) every day — and intends to keep doing so until we can offer safe, dry rooms for the crew helping rebuild our community and the wider Black River area.

On Thursday, November 6, while trying to enter Parottee Road (the part she had to walk), Michelle was stopped by some Army-looking guys who claimed the road was blocked❗️

Being the subtle individual Michelle is known to be, she replied that they were “more than a week late”…

Driving and walking down the road, she eventually caught up with the dump truck clearing debris and filling in the ditches/parts of missing road.

I'm told, Michelle didn’t have to twist anyone’s arm — or nose — but somehow still convinced the driver, Alligator, to work an extra two hours and finish clearing the road all the way to Thrivers Haven.

We are deeply grateful for Alligators, incredible effort.

On the monetary side of reality, things have slowed a bit — funds are still trickling in. We’ve received contributions from $5 and up, and every bit helps in a meaningful way.

As of today, we’ve reached 22,200 SEK (approx. 2,300 USD), with another 750 USD promised. This is amazing, almost 50% of our goal — but please don’t be shy!

If you can share a few more € / $ / ¥, it all helps us to help the helpers❗️

It’s been less than two weeks since Melissa hit Jamaica, and already it’s "all but gone" from the news…

Rebuilding damaged infrastructure will take time — my careful estimate is 3 to 5 years.

So again, please — donate what you can. Help us help the helpers.

You can use our GoFundMe page (works well for international transfers).

Other options include PayPal, Revolut, or Swish — contact me directly for details. We are also looking into additional options.

I believe in transparency and will provide any and all info clearly and ASAP if requested ( you will get it anyway, but it might take a while)

We, Michelle, have not been able to get any supplies (ply-board or glass).

Our normal providers/stores, have No date fore availability yet. All there stuff has literally blown away❗️

In the mean time, Michelle has been carrying, and handing out, 30-50 (1L) Water-bottles each trip.

It's not, by far, enough. But it's what's Michelle has been available to "get her hands on" and purchase...

Update #3 — November 15

We now have 34 550 SEK, roughly 3 660 USD, in the fundraising account — 69% of our goal! A really good start.
Please don’t be shy; if you’re able to donate a little more, it truly makes a difference.
You can use GoFundMe, Swish, PayPal, Western Union, or even cash — just contact me for details.

Good news:
Communication is steadily improving. We’re using WhatsApp, and every now and then Michelle and I can talk clearly. Late morning Jamaica time seems to work best for us.

Michelle has been on site at Thrivers Haven every day, organising cleanup and getting rebuilding underway. Right now, cleanup is the priority — partly out of necessity, since materials for rebuilding are still scarce, when available at all.

She currently has three men and five women helping. They’re doing a great job, even if they can’t all work on the same days (too much time lost to “chatting” when the whole team shows up at once).
These days of slower progress have brought some insights:
While clearing the yard, they’ve found several roof tin sheets, plus a surprising number of plates and cutlery. Everything was buried under about 15 cm (half a foot) of sandy mud. This sludge filled every nook and cranny on the ground floor and hardens into something like concrete as it dries — so it has to be removed quickly. Unfortunately, it has also run into the drainpipes, but that will have to wait…

Michelle has also discovered that, with current prices, glass has become more reasonable than plywood — probably because anyone can work with ply, but not many can do glazing. Luckily, she already has a “glass guy” lined up to replace all the broken windows in the rooms. Hopefully all the glass will be fitted within a week.

Many of the towels and bed linens have been found — sandy beyond belief. We’ll try washing them; towels might end up as rags, but at least we’ll give them a chance.
Some bed frames will need rebuilding, but most of the mattresses have been recovered. Not all are usable, but many should be once they dry out.

Sorting through debris brings mostly broken or destroyed things (including all power tools). But now and then there are little sparks of hope. Back in August, I took Michelle to Moheda Träsko Fabrik — one of the last Swedish wooden clog makers — and she left with a pair of red clogs. Michelle love these clogs, she wore them flying out from Sweden in September.
Both clogs have now turned up in the rubble — found days apart!
A small but very welcome bit of sunshine.

Update #4 — December 22

Dear family, friends, colleagues, supporters — all of you,

First, an apology for not updating you for some time. I’ve been procrastinating, with a few false starts along the way, unsure how best to put everything into words.

Now that we’ve passed the winter solstice, we know that light will return — metaphorically as well as literally.

Tomorrow marks eight weeks since Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica.

Eight weeks on, many people — including in Jamaica — have already moved on. But make no mistake: the catastrophic devastation in the Black River area has not been forgotten here. Rebuilding will take a long time. In truth, it will take years.

Thanks to your donations, Michelle has been able to work wonders.

To be transparent, here’s where things stand financially:
 A total of

US$ 4,347 was collected. This has covered materials and labour to restore seven rooms (the final room will require additional future effort).

The majority of the work so far has been about clean-up, sorting, and salvaging whatever could be saved. All glass has now been refitted — sourcing replacement glass significantly slowed progress.

In addition, emergency repairs were carried out to prevent further damage: parts of the foundation and sea wall were stabilized, the BBQ area was rebuilt into a wood-fired kitchen, and a temporary fence was installed after the garden walls collapsed.

Much of this work has been done on credit and IOUs, and I’ve contributed everything I could.

I cannot stress this enough:
 This rescue operation of Thrivers Haven would not have been possible without your support. Thank you — every single one of you.

At the moment, the remaining urgent tasks are water (scheduled to be resolved in the coming days) and new door locks (hopefully completed today).

At the same time, Jamaica’s power supplier, JPS, has contacted Michelle repeatedly. Our seven rooms — along with many others in the area — are urgently needed for workers undoing Melissas mess.

Lastly, I want to say this clearly and from the heart:
 Michelle has worked tirelessly, every single day, since Melissa tore through Thrivers Haven. Her determination, resilience, and sheer will have carried this place forward when it would have been easy to give up. She is, without exaggeration, my Heroine

Thank you for standing with us. We couldn’t have done this without you.

With gratitude,
John