It's still hard...

Being down here as I said before is so very different than anything you could imagine. I met a "local", thats how they refer to those who are born and live here, they help you get a better sense of life here before and after Katrina hit.

Everyone must know that this part of LA was not in good shape before Katrina hit, so this just brought more bad to a place already in sad shape. Some consider Katrina and it's damage to be either a blessing or making a bad situation worse. Depends on who they are and where they lived.

It is very depressing down here, and my new found friend Robin say's we have to remember that the people who live here, have lived with it both ways, before and after. They are used to waking up everyday and seeing it, those of us who are new to this don't. This makes it even harder to deal with. She told me stories of people who come here to help and they cannot cope and handle it and have to leave. I myself have been having trouble dealing with things I see and getting depressed about it. She assured me that this is common among many who volunteer. The hard part is that 3 years later it is still in sad shape and theres no end in site.I always belived that if you throw a rock into the waterr it has a rippe effect and so as a person I too can have that ripple effect. Truthfully, I feel like I am pouring a glass of water into the ocean and waiting to see if the level of water rises.

I don't think I could do this everyday and so I understand those who cannot return or those who have not returned at all. I have great respect and admiration for those who have stayed or come back to their roots here and decided to tough it out and rebuild. Rebuild not only their lives, but their homes and their families homes. The truth is it works at a slow pace but gets done.

Everyone needs to know in the rest of our country that things are still so very bad here, and that there are so many other organizations here at work. I originally came down for HFH, but I have found a grass roots group founded by a husband and wife team from Washington who moved here and started the St. Bernard Project. It goes in and is helping to restore homes to be inhabitable for the owners. The folks hardest hit here were the elderly, they need the most help in many things. I have met volunteers from this project who have come down every year, and go back to visit those whose homes they have worked on and helped restore. They remember everything about the homes and the people they helped and the homeowners in turn remember them. What a great thing this is to see and hear about.

I am posting pictures of some weird stuff I have seen. The weird ones are finding boats out in the middle of pastures, or beside the roads with grass and weeds growing out of them. I drove down a local highway has all the fishing boats on it, and took pictures of how folks are building their homes out there. On "stilts", actually they are telephone poles! Imagine how tough it is to put a double wide home together, then put it many feet in the air! The poles are connected by steel beams and the homes rest on them. I haven't even begun to understand how they get them up there! Crane maybe? I will consider this one of life's many mysteries to me!

I am going to the French Quarter to walk around tonight and see whats going on there. I am sure it will be crazy because it is NOLA Jazz Fest weekend.

Vickie