By Michelle Mairena

This past August 24th, a small tropical wave formed over the Central Atlantic Ocean.

Nobody paid any particular attention to it. But days passed by, and rapidly, the seemingly-harmless tropical wave transitioned from an innocuous tropical depression to a powerful Tropical storm to a monstrous, merciless Category 5 hurricane.

Everyone then watched closely as the powerful Hurricane Dorian slowly creeped across the Atlantic Ocean with a projected path to hit Florida.

For days, the sunshine state was plagued by a type of pre-apocalypse frenzy as Floridians prepared to brace Dorian. Thousands of families covered their houses with plywood, and myriad individuals raided store after store to find water packages and canned foods. Dorian seemed imminent, and Floridians were preparing for the worse.

But things did not go as expected.

On August 31st, the inclement Category 5 hurricane changed its projected-direction and was then on path to hit the Bahamas, a region in which it would later make landfall on the next day, September 1st.

With sustained winds of 185 mph, Dorian then remained stationary for three days in the Great Abaco and Grand Bahama islands, mercilessly destroying everything in his path.

It’s been almost a month now since Dorian passed through these islands, and the colorful chattering parrots that characterized Great Abaco and Grand Bahama are still quiet. Bodies are yet to be found. Houses are yet to be reconstructed, and families are yet to find a ray of hope for the possibility of constructing a new life in a place covered in debris.

Help for Bahamians, nonetheless, is on its way.

At Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the students, M-DCPS staff, and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho are making sure that they can contribute in any way they can to help our neighbors — and the arts, they’ve found, are the best way in which they can help uplift humanity.

“The DNA that I have in my body, the DNA that Bahamians have, Chinese, Africans, or Europeans [have] is all the same,” said Miami Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who with the M-DCPS community put together a benefit concert at Miami Art Studio this past Saturday, September 28, to help support hurricane relief efforts in the Bahamas.

“We are all part of the human race so when somebody needs help we all ought to feel the pain and pitch in,” he continued. “It is why as a citizen of the world I want to make my contribution, that is why the very first concert right here at [the new performing center of] Miami Art Studio is dedicated to the suffering people of the Bahamas.”

The hour-long concert, “M-DCPS 4 Bahamas,” was hosted by the M-DCPS Foundation for New Education Initiatives, and it took place in the brand new José Milton Performing Center at Miami Art Studio. Performances varied from spoken word, to ballet, to orchestration, to modern dance, to singing and rapping — all ways in which staff from across the District and M-DCPS students from across all grade levels showed off their talents to raise funds to help the Bahamas.

“We need to help each other,” said Rossana Parodi, a music teacher at iMater Elementary who sang at the concert. “This is the moment for people to show that they do care.”

“I’m doing this do give the example to my students,” she continued. “[It] is the least I can do.”

Donations were made through text and an online website, and at the end of the night — a night characterized by undeniable talent — over $6,000 were donated. Like host Louis Aguirre emphasized throughout the night, all this money will go directly to the Operation Helping Hands, an organization that will use the donations to help with relief efforts in the affected islands.

“We would do it for the people of the Bahamas; we would do it for the Cuban people; we would do it for the Venezuelans; we would do it for the African people, for the Asian people,” stated Superintendent Carvalho. “Anyone in need is someone deserving of our helping hands,” he continued.

Leaders of Great Abaco and Grand Bahama, who have described the passing of Dorian as a “historic tragedy,” are not yet sure how long the recovery will take. At least 53 people are dead and more than 1,300 are still missing — many who were likely swept into the ocean to their deaths.

Dorian, the strongest hurricane on modern record to hit the Bahamas, affected some 75,000 residents, destroying thousands of homes and lives. Now, in its aftermath, the remnants of his passing seem incalculable — simply calamitous.

But efforts like the ones the M-DCPS community are making are efforts that cannot go unnoticed. Any help — for as little as it may seem — is significant, and the collective drive of M-DCPS students and staff to mount an artistic and altruistic endeavour to help those in need is more than plausible.

“Young people open their hearts and their minds and they help wherever help is needed and I just try to follow their leadership,” said Superintendent Carvalho about the efforts made by students to organize the concert. “I believe in young people and I believe in the power of goodness and that’s why we are here tonight.”

“I’ll tell you one thing,” he continued. “Sometimes adults get it wrong, but the young people never do.”