The more stories I hear from the flood victims, relating their harrowing experiences, the more difficulty I have in believing that this really took place.

Can people withstand such suffering and still live with a smile? This question remained in my mind after I had visited the flood ravaged Guyana east coast a few weeks after the waters had subsided.

I spoke principally with Bishop Francis Alleyne, Bishop of the diocese of Georgetown Guyana and Fr John Persaud, the Vicar General and Administrator of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. I asked them first about the magnitude of the disaster.

The bishop told me that about sixty to eighty miles (96-128km) up the east coast and inland up to about three miles (5km) was covered with about two to four feet of water for approximately two weeks. This caused considerable damage to houses, furnishings and livestock.

Luckily the practice had been to build houses high off the ground; a custom that helped reduce the enormity of the losses. The cathedral and most of the churches too were constructed following this norm and so were greatly spared the onslaught of the rising waters.

When Fr John Persaud gave his opinion I could not help but remember our Trini cliché “God is a Trini” for he began by mentioning that the Guyanese saying is that “This is God's country”, since they are spared the natural disasters of hurricanes and earthquakes and even though most of the coastland is below sea level flooding had not been a serious problem.

So the nation was totally unprepared for what hit them. It was something like a “Noah and the Flood” experience for it rained almost non-stop for all of January and into the first week of February. It is not hard to believe that this was the heaviest rainfall to soak the country for the past one hundred years.

Bank manager transported in water taxi made from inverted back of pick-up truck

My interlocutors both agreed that the situation was worsened by the lack of respect for the environment, as many of the drains were clogged, thus inhibiting the free flow of water.

“Guyanese have been terrible with littering… a lot of the sluices and kokers were not working properly so water could not drain out as fast as it should have…” opined Fr Persaud.

So what was the response of the Church in this dire situation? Bishop Alleyne replied that there was an initial outreach. They quickly did a needs assessment and were able to get seven hundred families supplied with hampers.

He commended the Catholic Relief Services (a NGO) for their early release of funds and the Living Water Community of T&T for their ready response. To the latter organisation he was extremely grateful for the container of items which they forwarded with utmost speed.

Fr Persaud spoke of having to house in his premises a number of the destitute elderly. Indeed a flood relief command centre was set up at the Cathedral and Catholic Life Centre adjacent to the presbytery and was manned by volunteers.

Help came from various parishes as they assisted with the collection and distribution of food. He mentioned also that one of their immediate concerns was to feed the hungry and so they had to supply families with cooked food for many flood victims, having lost almost all material possessions, did not have the means of cooking.

Their concern and assistance, he stressed, was not extended only to Catholics but to all who were in need.

Now that most of the flood waters have subsided they are into what Fr John termed the second phase of the operation – the clean up. Here he made gracious mention of the partnership with Canada Fund that assisted in providing clean-up kits consisting of bucket, brush, garbage bags, detergents, gloves.

The communities organised themselves into groups and took charge of their own mopping up operations. I visited several of the communities that had suffered enormous flood damage and found the residents hard at work, sweating it out in the sun with a determination to have the place clean so that they could get on with their lives.

Showing the watermark after the waters have receded

In some places the only evidence of the recent catastrophe was the watermarks that have been tattooed on the fences and the walls of the houses.

But you do not survive such a trauma without some psychological damage and so many survivors have to be counselled, and here again the populace must be commended for the sacrifice of time and energy in making sure that their neighbour returns to full mental health.

Yet the frightening memory remains indelibly etched in the mind: will it happen again? Every time it rains the terrifying occurrence is recalled. The nightmare will replay itself several times over.

But after this ordeal the people have grown. They have realised that they were guilty of maltreatment of the environment and so they have become more conscious of the importance of respect for their surroundings.

They are more determined now to be a people with greater awareness of their neighbour and neighbourhood. And through it all, as was repeated by both the bishop and the vicar general, the spirit of the people shone through the dark cloud of adversity.

No angry voice of blame was heard and all are ready to persevere, pick up the pieces, carry on and thank the Almighty Father for helping them through this tribulation, for they still have the faith that this is God's country .