Thursday, August 30, 2007

New Orleans



August 29, 2005. Hurricane Katrina. It's been two years. I was there as a Red Cross Volunteer. These pictures don't do justice to the miles and scope of damage and destroyed neighborhoods.




I'll never forget the stunned look on honest faces revisiting their homes for the first time, many after up to 18 feet of water had destroyed their neighborhoods forever. In Saint Bernard county, with rows of modest house after house, all they could salvage from the ceiling high muck was plastic tupperware and glass vases. I saw families at the edge of their driveways wiping the mud off like they were cruifixes. It was all that was left.
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It's two years later. And the people of New Orleans are still not home. They never will be. Too many who doggedly made it back live like refugees. The American government has let these citizens down. This is not a political statement. Help was not there then. In most cases it still hasn't come. In most cases, it won't come.
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Erase your life and start again? Erase your photo albums and your back yard barbeques and the knowledge your kids and their kids would live down the street from you. Erase your sense of
home, of security, of patriotism. Erase the flashbacks of cutting a hole through your attic roof so your kids wouldn't drown. Can you?
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I was there, and it changed me for life. I will never forget. I ask that you don't either.

11 comments:

  1. I imagine that those things always change you for... I only I have seen it in the news... because Argentina this very far... but I imagine the dimension of the destructions... my support... and luck...

    Best wishes from Buenos Aires...

    http://www.alexiev.com.ar
    Alexiev Store

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  2. I think I am emotionally spent today but that just made me cry...

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  3. thank you alexiev. thank you for your visit as well. i will enjoy your illustrations very much.

    jess, this is one of a million reasons why i love you more than all the love in the world.

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  4. I'm with Jess. this one has me in tears.

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  5. We got a good coverage of what happened. I was just back from my 6 months in France.
    The current situation was in the press and on the TVs here.
    Terrible, really terrible.
    Must have been quite an experience to be there in person.

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  6. I still can't believe all that happened and is still going on ... I remember how agonizingly helpless I felt up here where it was safe while the lives of so many were lost, destroyed, or torn apart. Bless you for going into the heart of it all to help!

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  7. I am stunned that a country that always announced to be the biggets, the best, can also let its citizens down in the biggest way ever. I feel sorry for the poor people of New Orleans.

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  8. My brother is an avid cyclist and went down with a group to build and repair bicycles for people who needed transportation. He was very moved by the experience.

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  9. yes, i hope that we never do forget! all the lives and homes devastated makes me deeply sad, I watched Spike Lees film last weekend about it and I cried and cried! I'm glad you won't allow us to forget my friend!

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  10. nichole, you would have made an A+ volunteer.

    pieterbie, it was the experience of a lifetime.

    melissa, i got so much back. talk about living in the moment. that's all there was--for 18 hours a day.

    marloes, i believe the problem is america's current government (ie president), not its people.

    liz, yay for your brother!

    val, i am proud be called your friend. so many of the losses were one story brick homes. the water was up to the attic for days. not to mention the cars sitting in the driveway--a total junkyard by the time it was over.

    thank you everyone for your thoughtful comments and caring....

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  11. I can never forget, KJ. New Orleans is my home away from home, I almost moved there twice but never made it due to various interferences. Anyway, loved it since childhood, will love it always.

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