Katrina - 'Here I am, a refugee again' |
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September 20th, 2005 - 12:00AM |
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Christina (L) and Vuong, once refugees from Vietnam, now evacuees from New Orleans. Photo: Lisa David/International Rescue Committee Louisiana native Lisa David, now the IRC's regional refugee resettlement director in Dallas, traveled back to her home state to join an IRC team supporting local relief efforts for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Tuesday, September 6 I am back at the Cajundome again today and have the opportunity to talk to a few evacuees. The first, a middle-aged African-American woman tells me that she and the other evacuees are being very well taken care of at the shelter site. After we talk for a little while, she shyly says she wants to ask me a question. “Is it true that everyone around here is running out to buy guns because they are afraid of us?” Rumors have been running rampant in many of the communities that are absorbing large numbers of the evacuees. I assure her that this is not the case and that the rumors have gotten so out of hand that the local police have asked the public not to report an incident unless they have personally witnessed it. Even in towns the size of Baton Rouge and Lafayette, there are very close knit communities and, while I don’t agree with it, I can understand the uncertainty of suddenly not knowing half the people around you. The evacuee’s question, however helps me to see things from the other perspective – imagine having gone through the trauma in New Orleans, suddenly finding yourself in a strange location and not knowing many people around you at all. I also meet a Vietnamese couple, Vuong and Christina Luu. They fled New Orleans and are hoping to get to their daughter in Florida. I ask if they came to the U.S. as refugees and they confirm that they did. Christina was adopted by several churches in 1975, and her husband Vuong escaped by boat in 1980 after spending twenty days on the open sea. Christina tells me, “Here I am, a refugee again thirty years later.” Later in the day, I visit the shelter sites in Church Point and Rayne. These are not Red Cross shelter sites, but are operated by the towns themselves – opened when they saw the need. At each site, I learn of at least three or four more shelter sites in the area. Everyone knows someone who is hosting evacuees in their home, if they are not doing it themselves. It is hard to go anywhere without seeing the impact the evacuees are having – whether it be gas shortages, long lines at the grocery stores or the inability to make phone calls with any level of reliability. In my hometown of Church Point, which has a population of roughly 4,700, the community center has been turned into a shelter site. At its peak during the last week, it housed about 65 people but that is down to about 30 now. However, the mayor and his staff say they are serving another 400 individuals staying with family and friends in the area through donation distribution and community suppers. Posted By: Kathleen Sands | Hurricane Katrina Permalink |
