Well I have spent the past month gutting houses/sitting around here in New Orleans. I've met a lot of really cool people...even if some have annoyed the crap out of me. So some thoughts on post-Katrina N.O. Well they kind of depend on my mood, so here goes:
Good Mood
It's awesome to have a chance to help out people who really need it. Out of the 15 or so houses that I've worked on I've only had the opportunity to meet/work with 3 of the homeowners. They were all really grateful and definitely in need of some help. One disabled veteran, one older lady and... ok, only two. The other family I met was while I was delivering Christmas presents to their house. They are the grandparents but are taking care of the 3 kids because their daughter is "on drugs." The grandfather was on disability and he also just broke his hand. The baby has sickle cell anemia and the only money they get is from the grandfather's disability money. The grandmother was also sent to the hospital after she was trampled in the Superdome.
Bad Mood
It has been 17 months or so since Katrina. Why haven't these people gutted their houses yet? Sure, there are disabled and elderly. But that can't be all of N.O. This place is a dump. It looks like the flood waters went down a month ago. I read a newspaper from about 6 months after the hurricane and it said that about %25 of the gutting was done by undocumented workers. Another huge portion seems to come from out of town volunteers. Apparently the actual residents are busy doing drugs and shooting each other. I think a good portion of the people here have become dependent on aid - or even the hope of it. People are constantly coming by the office here asking for stuff. Basically every business here is hiring. Why don't they just get a job and then pay for some people to do their stuff. If someone without citizenship or the ability to speak English can come over here and make a $100 a day then why can't this city's residents? I think my bitterness about the whole thing comes from putting myself in their shoes. I can't convince myself that if my family were living here we would have done anything other than just wait until the house dries up and then gut it ourselves. I think an able-bodied family of 4 could take care of their house in ten days or so...depending on the size and how much crap they have. The city has been taking care of everyone's garbage, but this service will apparently be ending soon. All people have to do is drag it out of their house and dump it on the street. Easy. People need to suck it up. They always use this term in sports but sadly it doesn't get much use in real life. Maybe if my family had lived here we all would have just sat on the steps of businesses that were hiring and asked for handouts from customers. People seem to have this mentality that since they didn't cause the hurricane, why should they have to clean up its mess?
So on a bit of a tangent, I couldn't care less about the whole Mex border/immigration issue. But a lot of people do. I think a good solution would be a trade-off. Instead of spending the whole time trying to keep Latinos out, we should just have a special road where kids serve lemonade and a big "WELCOME" sign hangs over everything. Then the Latinos can just get some documents and lemonade and come in. The big "BIENVENIDOS" sign, which would be facing the other direction but in roughly the same spot would welcome all of Mexico's new citizens (they can have lemonade too). Then we will get buses and load up all the bums and people who've proven that they just can't make it in such a capitalistic environment. Basically what I am trying to say is that the undocumented workers here are doing a zillion times more work than the actual residents of N.O. I guess what really irks me is just that so many people seem to be sitting around waiting for some charity to rescue them when they are completely capable of taking care of themselves...including their fam and home. House gutting is not something that requires a degree of any kind...a hammer and a broom will get you a long way. And yes, I am living in a charity so if there are some hard-working residents...I didn't have the chance to see them!
I have had a ton of random N.O. related blogs in my head but typing this up is just making me angry so I am going to stop now. I hope you all had a good Christmas.
4 comments:
Mark I believe your frustration is the same of any aid worker, not only here but other countries as well. The whole aid industry, which is what it seems to be to some extent, seems most often to run on the worthlessness and not on the actual need of others. For instance, if many of the African leaders would decide to hoard less money for themselves and spend it on the development of their people and economy, the need for Peace Corps, Samaritan's Purse, and ARC to donate their services would be greatly diminished.
Of course these opportunites, like your trip to NO, give us awesome opps. to show the love of Christ. But I think like you we can't ulitmately be satisfied with an opp. to serve, but to have the desire to see others serve their own communities, especially when they are fully capable.
I'm sure Jesus felt the same frustration with the Pharisees knowing they should have been fully capable of taking care of Israel's spiritual needs. Whenever people have the choice of receiving aid or giving it, there'll never cease to be a good portion who'll choose the former.
BTW, if you go next year let me know. Too bad I missed you over break. Do you have a break in March? I want to go camping out west. Peace.
Mark, Did you get my email about the phone number you needed for your resume?
Hey Mark
Just caught up with six months of not reading your blog. Well, as always when you say something, it's good listening. Or fun listening. Or since you've recently had that topic: "something that doesn't sound gay" listening. Cheers mate, basically just came back home from a long night in Berne and remembered some funny things and weird situations we experienced in Guate. Greetings from Switzerland and props for what you're doing in New Orleans.
I don't think you understand, Mark. See, Katrina was Bush's fault, and as such, he should be there picking up after everything. Him, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and maybe Rice and that FEMA guy are the ONLY people that should actually clean up. Also, you're racist.
Ok, all kidding aside, your story is very enlightening (in a "I'm glad I know what is happening, but am saddened by it" kind of way). I wonder sometimes if it would almost be better to not give places like NO any help. It's like giving extra money to a kid because he lost his allowance when he was out playing.
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