Roetman, Kjersten volunteer to assist recovery efforts in Jamaica following Hurricane Melissa
Steele-Waseca Cooperative Electric Field Technician Gabe Roetman and Line Foreman Kevin Kjersten spent early December volunteering in Jamaica with recovery efforts following Hurricane Melissa in October 2025.
They left for Jamaica early, Dec. 1, and returned to Minnesota late, Dec. 19.
Roetman and Kjersten joined other National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) volunteers from U.S. co-ops rebuild the Jamaica Public Service’s damaged grid with focus on installing new wires and equipment with the goal of restoring electricity, water, and connectivity to enable communities to recover and rebuild. “The team lead that we had last year sent a text saying that he was going to Jamaica over a weekend to do some scouting on work areas,” wrote Gabe. “Kevin had emailed the international program and secured a slot so I jumped in with him.”
Steele-Waseca’s Field Technician Gabe Roetman (pictured right) feeds a downed line for placement on a power pole as part of recovery efforts to restore power in Jamaica during December 2025.
Hurricane Melissa destroyed about 75% of the distribution system in Jamaica, requiring significant international aid.
“The conditions were pretty torn up,” stated Kevin. “A lot of roofs missing and trees tipped over. We worked around Discovery Bay and Runaway Bay. I would call it a urban area with a lot of houses and small stores. Some of the areas were very hilly and we primarily worked on the north side of the island close to the coast.”
“A lot of the work consisted of putting up taps to houses, framing poles and putting wire back on poles,” stated Gabe. “We would typically leave around 7:15 a.m., and get back to our rooms around 6 or 7 p.m. A few nights were around 8 p.m. Traffic played a big part on what time we would get back. Under normal traffic it was around a 45-minute drive to or from the work site, but if we got into rush hour traffic it would get close to double that time for the commute.”
“The challenging part was patience and putting things together with the material we could salvage or what little material we were given,” stated Kevin. “When a Jamaican says call you back shortly or food and material is on the way, it would usually mean 3 or 4 hours you should expect it.”
“The Jamaican people were friendly, talkative and happy to see us,” stated Kevin. “The English dialect can be difficult to understand with some of the Jamaicans. Our bus driver I noticed would use a different English dialect talking with us or talking with native Jamaicans.”
As for where Kevin and Gabe stayed during their stay, “Accommodations were pretty good,” stated Gabe. “We stayed at Sand Castle in Ocho Rios which is close to where the big cruise ships dock. We would see different cruise ships throughout the week docking and leaving. I shared a room with Kevin and we had hot water and air conditioning. Some of the guys did not have hot water.”
“The food was OK. It was typically the same thing every day,” stated Kevin. “Breakfast would consist of fish or chicken with boiled green banana, dumplings and potato. Lunch was typically jerk chicken or sweet chili chicken, plantains and rice. Towards the last week we would get juicy patties for breakfast. We also stopped at a store and got bread, peanut butter and jelly and a few other snacks. A lot of days lunch didn’t show up till 4 p.m. At night we ate at a restaurant across the street which had a good variety of food to choose from. KFC wasn’t too far away either.”
“The other volunteers were great,” wrote Gabe. He stated four of them were back from their volunteer experience in Jamaica that Gabe participated in 2024, four from Maryland, two from Arkansas, two from Virginia, one from Missouri, one from Texas, along with Gabe and Kevin from Minnesota.
“We all signed up with a very common goal and it is very impressive of how little time it takes to form a team, friendship and bond with the people on these missions,” stated Gabe. “It’s almost like we had worked together for years.”
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