[sl/intern/teen] Katrina: Three Years On
September 15th was a special day for me it was the day that I held the fireside Katrina: 3 Years On. The topic kind of fell in my lap, Rafi had been asking me about the trip I took to New Orleans for volunteer work and if I was going to blog or if I wanted to do an event. I of course took him up on the offer to do an event on GK Island!
I quickly found that this one was going to be a juggling act. I needed to not only give them the facts of what it is like in the 9th ward in New Orleans now but what happened in the first place. Both I could talk about for ages.
I started the fireside with the usual GK guidelines, one mic, safe space, and participation. From there I broke straight into rambling Vicky mode and started spilling facts out everywhere until one of the participants who had never heard Katrina reeled me back in.
Now that all the participants really understood the basic background on Katrina we went into the first activity. For the first activity the participants were asked to play the game Tempest in Crescent City and get as far as they could while paying attention to detail. After time was up we all came back and we were supposed to talk about the game and do a few processing questions but going back into rambling Vicky mode I skipped it and had to be pulled back in by Rafi.
After asking and answering the questions given by Rafi or myself participants watched a video created by victims in St. Bernard’s Parish. Participants were wide and awake for this one with plenty of comments to everything we had talked about.
Participants watch the video "Katrina Dreams"
Seeing as how the event is called "Katrina: Three Years On" we began to talk about how New Orleans is now.
I went to New Orleans and worked in St. Bernard’s Parish twice. The first time was a year after Katrina. It was… devastating even for me who never knew what it was like before. Families were living in trailers big enough for maybe two even if there were four or five people in one family, rations of food were being handed out by volunteers and churches, debris was piled up on the side of the road, traffic signs didn’t exist.
There were sights people couldn’t imagine that at times I wish I could forget. Play rooms for children no older then three destroyed, houses tipped over as if doing a nose dive, mac trucks on roofs, we even found a seventy foot boat in the middle of a street, one house crushed others spared. It was a place where in many senses the world had ended.
I am happy to report that today New Orleans is getting better. Trailers are almost gone, trash has been picked up, and stores are opening, restaurants actually run on a reliable schedule. Houses are being rebuilt; people are putting their lives together. I even heard people joke about how the storm brought them a million pet raccoons, something you would have never heard before. It is an amazing sight to see after all these people have been through.
The response to everything talked about that day was overwhelming, wonderful but over whelming. Everyone had something to say. Everyone had a question. Everyone still there at the end were wide-awake and eager to talk about the issue at hand.
Over all I think it was an amazing success.
Things I learned:
• Having Rafi run something I’m uncomfortable with is a great way to keep the pressure low and re-organize my mind for a few minutes.
• When you have a personal relationship with the issue be careful not to attack anyone who disagrees with the people affected or simply doesn’t understand.
• Have your proposal in front of you. It will help you organize even if your brain is acting like a gooey mess.
