Overseas work creates a unique kind of distance.Workers leave home physically, but rarely emotionally. Even while adapting to farms, hotels, and work sites abroad, their attention remains tied to what is happening back home, to children, spouses, parents, and communities that continue to depend on them from thousands of miles away. That distance became especially real during Hurricane Melissa.

 

As the hurricane tore through sections of Jamaica in late 2025, many Jamaican workers

were on assignment in the United States under overseas employment programmes,

attempting to maintain work responsibilities while desperately trying to reach relatives back

home.

 

For Owen Salmon, a Jamaican farm worker employed in New York, the experience remains difficult to forget. “It was terrifying,” Salmon recalled. “For days, I couldn’t hear from them. When I finally did, I heard my roof was completely gone. My wife and kids had to run for their lives, but thank God they’re alive.”

 

Like many workers overseas at the time, Salmon found himself balancing two realities at

once, fulfilling work obligations abroad while confronting devastation at home. The challenge extended beyond communication. Workers spoke about damaged homes, displaced relatives, rising food costs, and the uncertainty of rebuilding. Some returned temporarily to Jamaica to assist family members,while others remained overseas, continuing assignments because the income itself had become part of the recovery effort.

 

For Damian, another Jamaican worker employed on a New York farm, the return home after

the storm was devastating. “I came home to see what was going on, and everything was gone. No house, nothing,” he said. “It’s something that took 20 to 30 years to build, and in just a few hours, it’s gone now.” Yet despite the uncertainty, work continued.

 

Across farms and businesses in the United States, Jamaican workers still reported for duty

each day, harvesting crops, maintaining operations, and fulfilling contracts even as many

worried about what awaited them at home.

 

“The emotional side of overseas employment is something people don’t always see,” said

Senior Liaison Officer Sheldon Brown. “Workers may be physically overseas, but emotionally they are still very connected to home. During Hurricane Melissa, many were trying to continue working while worrying about whether their families were safe.”

 

As another hurricane season approaches across the Caribbean, many overseas workers are

once again preparing for a familiar cycle. Their lives are already shaped by seasons,

planting seasons, harvest seasons, travel seasons, and contracts that determine when they

leave and when they return home. But for workers who experienced Hurricane Melissa while overseas, this season carries a different emotional weight.

 

For many, the memory of trying to reach family members from thousands of miles away still

lingers. Across Jamaica and the wider region, there is hope that the devastation of last year

will not be repeated, and that communities still rebuilding will be spared another season of

Loss. Preparation has now become part of the conversation. Workers are being encouraged to maintain emergency contacts for relatives back home, secure important documents before departure, and remain connected with liaison officers and family networks throughout the hurricane season.

 

 For many, preparedness now extends beyond the worksite itself. Because for overseas workers, the season is never only about the work. Sometimes, it is also about weather, worry, and the weight of home.