TOLEDO, Ohio — The impact of Hurricane Dorian is hitting close to home for one international student at the University of Toledo.
Addis Brown left her home in the Bahamas just weeks ago to begin her junior year at UT. While she avoided the hurricane, she's heartbroken to be away from her family, friends and neighbors as they face the rubble of her beloved country
"I'm just pushing for the day that I can get home to see my family again and hug them all and thank god that they are safe," said Brown, a UT student from Nassau, Bahamas.
Pictures of pure devastation scroll across her phone. It's a difficult reality to see what once was a beautiful island in pieces.
"I don't recognize anything that I see," Brown said.
While Addis is from Nassau, which saw much less damage from the storm, she has uncles and aunts who live on Grand Bahama Island. Some saw the worst of Hurricane Dorian. She watched the category 5 hurricane’s slow path from her apartment knowing her family was in danger.
"My aunt's house, she had water above her waist,” Brown said. “The wind was wreaking havoc on her roof and during the eye of the storm while it was over her, she had to try to quickly find somewhere else to go, to evacuate her home. I can't imagine how scared she was."
All of her family remained safe, but some have lost their homes and communities. Despite all of this, she has watched as Bahamians do all they can for their neighbors in the midst of destruction and despair.
"That's definitely a silver lining I guess of the storm just seeing how we all came together as people and how beautiful the hearts of the Bahamian people are," Brown said.
As Brown tries to remember the beautiful country she left just weeks ago, she knows she will return to a much different sight. Damage far more than her country can handle. She hopes others will come together to help her small country get back on their feet.
"We are helping ourselves of course, but really there is only so much we can do as a third world country,” she said. “So, I think it’s very important for people to look outside of themselves, look outside their country and try to help because you really never know until it's you."
There are a number of places you can donate to support the people of the Bahamas. They have a list of places they work with if you want to help.
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