A few months ago, We saw our old Pastor and his wife (just finishing a Pastorial Missionary assignment in Slovokia and now received a call to Pastor at a church in Los Altos, California) and they told me how much a particular message that I wrote on my experience with the Hurricane Katrina Relief & New Orleans Rebuild effort a few years ago had touched their heart. Since I signed up to help with the Habitat For Humanity project in Fullerton with the Lutheran church this September, I thought that I'd post my message on rebuilding New Orleans again for those that hadn't seen or heard of the essay of the truth that I discovered there. Read below and watch the videos (highlighted) to get a true idea of what really happened there and what's happening there still today. Here's the message:
Hurricane Katrina struck the New Orleans area early morning August 29, 2005. The rising water breached the city's inadequate levees and strom walls at multiple points, leaving 80 percent of the city submerged, tens of thousands of victims clinging to rooftops, and hundreds of thousands scattered to shelters around the country. It would take almost two months for the floor waters to reside and the residents to return … to devastation. http://www.nola.com/katrina/graphics/flashflood.swf
I received an e-mail in March of 2006 from Hillary (the daughter of my best friend, Tim, who is now in heaven). She wrote and told me of her College’s Spring Break trip to New Orleans to provide volunteer help for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. It was six months after the hurricane struck and she wrote of how it seemed to be a ghost town with massive damage and of the hard work to clean the houses out for rebuilding. But Hillary also spoke of meeting the home-owners and the hope that they saw to start over. She wrote:” It was the hardest work I've ever done, but it was also one of the best times I've ever had.” From that point, not only did she find direction for herself, but she challenged me to step out and get involved in Missions work to rebuild New Orleans also.
I received an e-mail in March of 2006 from Hillary (the daughter of my best friend, Tim, who is now in heaven). She wrote and told me of her College’s Spring Break trip to New Orleans to provide volunteer help for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. It was six months after the hurricane struck and she wrote of how it seemed to be a ghost town with massive damage and of the hard work to clean the houses out for rebuilding. But Hillary also spoke of meeting the home-owners and the hope that they saw to start over. She wrote:” It was the hardest work I've ever done, but it was also one of the best times I've ever had.” From that point, not only did she find direction for herself, but she challenged me to step out and get involved in Missions work to rebuild New Orleans also.
So many people that I talked to, told me that they felt that rebuilding New Orleans was just a waste of time and money. The land was below the bordering Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, and still sinking annually. They hear that the whole Levee & pump system is inadequate, so the same flooding will occur during future hurricanes.
Many people asked me: “What great lose is there in the elimination of a high crime, drug infested, immoral area and the massive welfare state there?” But these are social problems. When we have social problems, do we allow natural disasters solve those problems? What about the good people living there, the children, and the potential for those to change? No, despite the problems, there needs to be compassion and caring assistance to those that have lost all, except hope and faith.
Many people asked me: “What great lose is there in the elimination of a high crime, drug infested, immoral area and the massive welfare state there?” But these are social problems. When we have social problems, do we allow natural disasters solve those problems? What about the good people living there, the children, and the potential for those to change? No, despite the problems, there needs to be compassion and caring assistance to those that have lost all, except hope and faith.
I think about how none of those Louisianans could have imagined how quickly and thoroughly their lives would be changes by Katrina's waters overpowering the flood walls that protected the city and their lives. 1800 people killed, 90,000 square miles ravaged and 100,000 houses damaged or lost. A New Orleans population of 511,000 before the hurricane to a population of only 216,000 today. Those who have returned must now contend with closed hospitals, lost friends and either inadequate insurance payments that don’t even come close to covering the cost of reconstruction or no insurance at all. All these statistics are well documented, but what about what Hillary talked about … hope.
Physically and emotionally, Katrina continues to take a heavy toll on survivors. Many still live with relatives or in camped FEMA trailers in half-deserted neighborhoods. Their houses are uninhabitable; their savings gone; their friends and relatives scattered. Depression and stress disorders are common. This is their home. This house and hope may be all they have. And isn’t God there?!
My thoughts go directly to the Word of God. Romans 12:9-13 "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love . Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality .
1John 3:16 "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
1John 3:16 "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
They need help. Hope is what they have. We need to rebuild New Orleans, Louisiana and lives. With all this in mind, I made a choice. I made a choice for hope. I contacted Pastor Tracy Hearnsberger of Little Church in the Pines @ Bass Lake, California (my dad’s church) and joined a small group going to New Orleans for Habitat for Humanity & Project Noah Rebuild New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina Relief work. I had to see and experience this myself. What I found was beyond my imagination and changed my thinking. I’ll tell you more in my next letter.
Take a look at this piece of a video of an upcoming documentary to see some of the true efforts and progress to rebuild more than houses: rebuilding lives. (click on this link below & see)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_mQGZN4BEU. The big guy in the red MLB "ANGELS" cap in the documentary is me. It was the experience of a lifetime.
Brian – Worker in the Kingdom of God. Let’s all help in the Katrina's around us today and touch lives!
4 comments:
Hey Brian,
thanks for the kind words, but you are wrong.
Katrina did not flood New Orleans.
80% of the floodwaters came from 3 catastrophic engineering failures on the 17th Street, London Ave and Industrial Canals flood walls, which failed due to "easily avoided engineering mistakes" at below design spec AT HALF LOAD --but NOT due to storm surge from Katrina.
This is Fact as reported in the ILIT study, and admitted to by the Corps of Engineers in their own studies, in Federal Court and in testimony before Congress.
What flooded New Orleans was a Man Made Disaster, the Corps of Engineers.
This is established legal fact.
Please correct yourself.
Saying Katrina devastated New Orleans is like saying Traffic brought down the MN Bridge Collapse. Both exposed blatant engineering failures in design and execution.
Our flood control system failed in 56 locations.
56 places.
Please think about that before you try to blame it on the Storm which actually missed the city and devastated MS nearly 30 miles away.
I was there in New Orleans for the hurricane. That we could have handled.
It was the Engineering Failures, the Man Made Disaster which killed us.
Thank you
Brian, I too must concur with the first commenter. Katrina WAS a natural disaster along the Mississippi Coast but was not a natural disaster for New Orleans. If people realized this they probably wouldn't have been so quick to rush to judgement about the people who choose to live in New Orleans. You may want to check out a website called levees.org that can help educate.
Otherwise a tremendous article and THANKS to everyone who pitches in to help others. I was a California tourist who was trapped in the Superdome because the Airport, Greyhound, and Amtrak all shut down 2 days before Katrina hit landfall and a day before the mandatory evacuation.
I have since been back and passed out food and volunteered for Habitat For Humanity at Musician's Village and it was quite rewarding.
Paul Harris
Author, "Diary From the Dome, Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina"
Thank you Editilla for your clarification on the cause of the flood wall failures. Our team arrived in 2007, after the new concrete wall of the Industrial Canal was completed, but they left a portion of the original steel flood wall in place on the Lower Ninth Ward side, and it was easy to see what you are talking about. We are so proud that the Project Noah Rebuilt and Baptists Crossroads provided our church team the organizational support and work assignments to help you and your city. I am forever a fan of New Orleans and the people there. The love of the citizens overflowed daily on me and my missions work team. My dad's church has sent work teams every year since 2006 and continues to assist fiancially and physically with volunteers to help your wonderful city. Thank you for writing and God bless you! Brian
Paul,
Thank you for writing. It is great to have input from those who were there during the actual hurricane. I'm happy that you wrote a book on the experience for all of America to hear your first-hand account. Half of our team worked renovate a laundry room for a Baptist church homeless senior citizen house and half for Habitat for Humanity at Musician's Village. I helped at both job sites since they were just two streets apart. It was one of the most rewarding times that I've ever experienced ever. A year or so ago, someone called into a radio talk show here in Southern California and complained about the time and money spent on the New Orleans hurricane relief, and I called in to say that every second of effort and every dollar spent was well worth it. People who have not been to New Orleans flooded areas and talked to the wonderful citizens of that city, do not know. This truly is life and we who have been touched by New Orleans want them to understand. These are our American brothers and sisters. I happy that you wrote me. Blessings. Brian
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