Being in New Orleans

Common Ground Collective just published their first newspaper, which we will go out and deliver to the neighborhoods later today. I have spent the morning reading all the stories of people who's lives are still devastated by Katrina. Landlords who are evicting people before they can even get back to see if any of their possesions are recoverable, yesterday I found a graduation diploma for a young woman who graduated with honors before Katrina, now just a bit of paper in the street. There are people as far away as New York, including single mothers, who have been evicted from temporary housing because their FEMA money has run out. There are houses being bulldozed because the owner cannot afford to restore it yet. Only half of the hospitals have reopened creating long lines at the ones that are, some suffering from respiratory ailments from trying to live in an unsafe house. Suicide rates have skyrocketed; the list goes on and on.

I originally had thought about coming down here right after the storm, but maybe because of fear of the unknown, or just finding other priorities I didn't. Maybe the photos and news stories were not enough to motivate me. I know that had I seen all this first hand I am sure I would have made it a priority. I found myself thinking this morning, when something like this happens why doesn't every body stop all but essential responsibilities and come and help. Wouldn't we hope for the same if it was our house? How can a whole year go by and the tragic stories go on and on. At the rate things are going it could be 10-15 years maybe more before all these neighborhoods are cleaned up. That is if the bulldozers don't come first.

I heard Kone speak the other night, he is one of the key organizers for Common Ground Collective. He was sharing that he thinks the plan is to create some sort of "New Orleans Disneyland." He says that they're not hiring back the great chefs because now they have the recipes, and they're not hiring back the great musicians because now they have the music. They want to hire people from overseas to fill these roles. He said Common Ground Collective is going to prevent this by getting people back to their homes.

A lot more needs to be done. The volunteers here seem exhausted, some of them have been here for months. There were times when there were 200 volunteers, now just about 60. This morning, Sunday, a man who came from Australia to help was going from table to table at breakfast asking who could go gutting today. Gutting as I mentioned in another post is the very essential first step in restoration after a flood. They go in and strip everything that could harbor mold and then scrub down the rest. This creates a bare, but habitable space and allows for rebuilding to begin. Below is a picture that I just took of today's crew loading in a van to go to the Lower 9th Ward.