Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Katrina Cottages



FEMA trailers were once offered for purchase to those who were living in them. I have not met a person who took the US government up on the offer to purchase the FEMA trailers--they are known to emit formaldehyde which is causing respiratory problems for children and the aged.

Some people have had their FEMA trailers taken away and have returned to living in tents or their cars.

Those who have low enough incomes are able to get Katrina cottages, something like a shotgun house that is brought in on wheels that is also supposed to be a temporary home like the FEMA trailers were intended to be. The folks I met who were living in Katrina cottages have been told that they can live in them through March 2009. I have no idea what will happen then.


Where On Earth is Diane Shaw?

Diane's house in Pearlington, MS, was located across the street from a church we were working in. It appears that Diane has not returned to Pearlington since Katrina hit.


The house--what can one say?



Diane's vacuum cleaner located in her front yard.



Notice Diane's refrigerator is on top of her couch. Oh, boy!!!

Thank You


Thank you for supporting me on this trip. I learned a lot, and I can only say that I felt like the pathway was made straight for the entire week.

There is great need for mental health counseling in Hancock and Harrison Counties. I participated in several problem-solving conversations with residents who were looking for help. Some shared their stories of heartbreak. I have not witnessed so much trauma since I was working with refugees from Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya in 2001.

More Photos--Bay Saint Louis:The eye of the storm



FEMA trailer across from the beach. The storm surge was 30 feet high in this area. Just down the road at St. Stanislaus high school, seven international students made it through the storm with a priest by staying on the fourth floor of their dormitory. All made it safely through the storm.




Stairs to nowhere seem to be located all across the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina hit Bay Saint Louis at 8:01AM on August 29, 2005. These stairs have led to nowhere for 2.5 years!




All that remains of the local Hancock Bank building is the vault. One of our teammembers checks it out in this photo.



One of our team members poses in front of two bridges: the bridge directly behind her is the railroad bridge and the bridge in the distance is the Bay St. Louis Bridge that recently opened. While I was in Ocean Springs in June 2007, nine workers were killed building this bridge. (Katrina demolished the bridge in 2005.)



All that remains of the Fire Dog Saloon which was located in Downtown Bay St. Louis is the gutted out building. Notice the oak tree roots in the parking lot in the foreground.

Group Photos




These two photos are of our group--we had a carefully selected team and we worked well together. It was a very intense week.

Making Sense of It All

I thought the trip to Mississippi would have been easier--we had a very clear plan: assess what types of mental health needs are occurring on the Gulf Coast and how they are being dealt with. Our trip focused on Hamilton and Hancock counties, the westernmost counties on the Mississippi coast. Hancock County is on the MS/Louisiana border. We visited a variety of homes, met with pastors and other community leaders, and it is very apparent that not only is there a great stigma placed on those who seek mental health counseling, but there is an extreme shortage of workers in the area.

Imagine living in a camper for two and a half years, you a 30-something-year-old who works afternoon->evening shifts at a local nursing home as a nurse's aide, your thirty-something husband who works as a local truck driver when there is work, your 8-year-old son, your 10-year-old daughter, and your 12-year-old son all living in a FEMA trailer. There are two bedrooms, one at each end of the trailer. Your husband and you have the bedroom closest to the front door--there is no room in the 'bedroom' for anything but the double bed. Your two active sons sleep in bunkbeds at the other end of the trailer. So where does your daughter sleep? The dining booth breaks down into a bed.

Privacy, you want privacy you say? Go outside. Greet your 15 starving dogs because you have no money to pay to get your dogs spayed and the puppies keep coming and coming. Sometimes strangers come by and offer the two mama dogs foodscraps. She barely is getting by. How will the 12 puppies make it?

Hungry? Just look into your propane-powered dorm-sized refrigerator. How much milk will that hold for three growing children?

Dirty? Try taking a seven gallon shower. Wait, you can't do that because you have the children and your husband to think about. Your water heater isn't that big. You'll have to be very frugal with the water so that everyone can do a little washing up tonight.

The view? Look at that slab outside the house. It is all that remains of your home--the house you purchased a few years before Katrina, the house that was supposed to be your nestegg for retirement, the house that was supposed to be your shelter from the storm. Even though you live three miles from the Gulf of Mexico, the 30-foot storm surge carried your house nearly all the way to the interstate, I-10, about two miles to the north. At least you have your concrete slab left to go along with your mortgage payments that you are supposed to be paying on a house that no longer exists that was carried away in a flood that really was not part of Hurricane Katrina according to your insurance agent.

Maybe you should file for bankruptcy? In Mississippi, you need $2,000 to begin the process of filing for bankruptcy...

This is the true-life story of one family I met on my recent trip to Mississippi. My heart goes out to them. They are grateful for their jobs, that their family has made it thus far, but their FEMA trailer will be taken away soon. The family does not qualify for a Katrina Cottage, so what will they do?

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Post-Katrina Images from the Pearlington Area





I will post updated photos on this blog when I am able to do so. I will most likely NOT have internet access in Mississippi as I will not be bringing a laptop with me nor will I be staying where there will be immediate access. (This is different from my two other trips to the Ocean Springs area.)