Tallawah Foundation for Jamaican Hurricane Relief

by Kai Dear

Tallawah actually started the day after Hurricane Melissa. My sister, my cousin, and I were at school in North America, watching everything unfold back home in Jamaica. We couldn’t reach some of our family for hours, and just seeing the scale of the hurricane from afar was overwhelming. Obviously, nothing compares to what people experienced on the ground, but even being abroad, it felt paralyzing. I remember thinking during the storm that we had to do something, even if it was small. The next day, we decided to act on that.

The name Tallawah itself comes from the Jamaican saying “We likkle but we tallawah,” which reflects the idea of being small but strong, resilient, and powerful. That meaning has really guided everything we do. Even our clothing collections carry that same spirit, with names like Unbroken Island, Still A Stand, and Roots of Resilience, all centered around strength, identity, and perseverance.

Tallawah began as a simple passion project between the three of us. We started by selling shirts and putting all the proceeds toward relief efforts. Within about a week, we made a few thousand dollars, and it grew from just us into a much larger group made up of close friends who all wanted to help.

From there, we moved quickly to formalize things and registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Florida. Since then, we have also brought on interns, and today we are a team of 13 people working across different areas like operations, marketing, outreach, merchandise, and finance.

So far, we have been able to accomplish a lot in a relatively short amount of time, and more importantly, reach a meaningful number of people. Through a combination of care package distributions, clean water initiatives, school support, and direct aid to families, we estimate that we have impacted over 700 people across multiple communities in Jamaica, contributing over $60,000 USD in aid and resources.

This includes our Christmas distributions where we provided food, water, and essentials to families and children, as well as our partnership with Wine To Water to deliver water filters to households, a school, and a shelter, providing long term access to clean drinking water.

In Trelawny, we helped build a new roof for Friendship Basic School, supporting both students and teachers, and also provided connectivity through a mobile Starlink. We are continuing our work there with additional supplies for the school.

We are also currently organizing support in West Green, a community that experienced severe flooding during the hurricane, where many homes were heavily damaged and families lost essential belongings. We are working directly with approximately 50 households there to provide appliances and essential items based on what the community has told us they need.

On a more personal level, we have supported several individuals who were heavily impacted. This includes a woman whose home was completely destroyed, where we have provided building materials so far and are continuing to assist her as she works toward rebuilding. We have also provided rebuilding materials for two other individuals, one who lost his entire home and is now working to rebuild at least a room to live in, and another who has been living in his bathroom since the hurricane, because it was the only part of his home left standing.

Something that has been really meaningful for us is the level of support we have received along the way. We have had strong backing from companies and organizations both in Jamaica and abroad. Groups like Fontana Pharmacy, Margaritaville Group, Jamaica Producers, True Juice, Seprod, CPJ, Ramsons, and even Alvin Sherman Library in Florida have contributed in different ways, whether through products, or donations like books for children. It has truly been a collective effort.

Because many of us are away at school, some of the on the ground work in Jamaica is carried out by family members and close supporters, including my parents, my brother, and trusted friends. Tallawah has become a wide network of people all working together to make these efforts possible.

Looking ahead, our goal is to grow Tallawah into something that lasts well beyond this one disaster. However, there are still a lot of people that need help from Melissa’s devastation. We will always be ready to respond when hurricanes or emergencies happen, but we also want to build a foundation that supports communities all year round. Plans includes working more closely with schools, supporting children, and contributing to long term development in Jamaica.

A big part of our future is engaging the diaspora, especially university students across the U.S. and Canada. We are working toward building partnerships with Caribbean student organizations and giving them ways to actively participate through fundraising, events, and campaigns. We want to create something that not only raises support, but also gives students a stronger connection to home, along with opportunities like internships, volunteer hours, and leadership experience.

At its core, Tallawah is about turning that feeling of helplessness into action, and building a community of people who want to make a real, lasting difference.

Kai, his sister Kenya, and mother Linda reached out to Anna while she was vacationing in Jamaica about this very important project. If you would like to support Tallawah through buying merchandise or direct donations, please visit https://tallawah876.org/. One hundred percent of direct donations and profits fuel Tallawah’s Hurricane Melissa relief efforts.