Friday morning, the coast was clear.
“We’re going home,” said Altagrace Bonhomme, of Delray Beach, to her two daughters, Wilnise, 8, and Rebecca, 4.
“Yay!” said Wilnise, in white sandals and leopard-print pajama pants, holding her dog Delilah in the crux of her left arm.
Staying at a Palm Beach County shelter wasn’t too bad for the family, nor for Delilah. But they were anxious to get home.
“I don’t know what do expect,” said Bonhomme.
The family hopped into their minivan and made the short trip to suburban Delray Beach.
It was a happy homecoming.
“Everything is OK. It’s good!” Bonhomme said as she surveyed her modular home. “We’re happy.”
No ripped-off shingles, no broken glass, no submerged family photo albums. The home was as they’d left it. Which is exactly how they received it two and a half months earlier - built by Habitat for Humanity and donated by the West Boca Country Club.
“When we got this home, it was the happiest day of my life,” said Bonhomme.
But when she heard the evacuation warnings, Bonhomme says she and her husband reluctantly gathered up the girls - and the dog - and headed for safety.
“This is a factory home,” said Bonhomme. “I heard on the radio: if you have a factory home or a mobile home, you have to leave.”
Nestled back at home with the storm past, the family breathed a sigh of relief. But 8-year-old Wilnese was troubled.
“We were kind-of lucky. But other countries - Haiti, Jamaica, the Bahamas…they’re not really lucky,” said Wilnese. “They got really really flooded - [the storm] was a level 5. They probably have broken houses right now. And probably a lot of people are passed away…and kids are crying.”
Thinking of the destruction in the Caribbean weighed heavy on Wilnese’s heart. And rightly so.
“My grandma has family in Haiti,” she said. “I don’t know if they’re still there…and alive.”
