Lynn Meadows, Slidell, Louisiana, Day 4 Thanksgiving Day November 24
11/24/2005 17:35
United
Peace Relief Slidell, Louisiana Day 4 Thanksgiving
Day November 24
We woke up to the mist over the meadows and the bayou. Everyone happy about our successes and feeling thankful for our life and our group of wonderful people who are choosing to volunteer to give service in this disaster.
We decided to spend the morning cleaning the debris from the yard of the lady next door. Her house was flooded in the 20 foot surge of water and then sat in 6 feet of water for 36 hours. Her house is full of black mold, her furniture is all tumbled and ruined. She has not been able to return to her home. We have volunteered to help her out. First thing is to clean the rubble from her yard so that FEMA can bring in a trailer for her to live in. We did that and started the process of hauling out her furnature.
The problem today is that we are waiting on our respirators and protection suits. Black mold is toxic and causes respiratory problems, rashes, and red eyes. The people who have no choice are trying to live in their houses and paint over the mold. Unfortunetly the mold thrives behind that paint and hidden in their mattress. They come in with asthma and say they have allergies that have developed since Katrina. Words can never describe the extent of this problem, it goes on for more than one hundred miles in cities and rural areas, thousands upon thousands of homes. People with money are quick to get their houses gutted and disinfected. People without money are up against the wall waiting for help from the government that has not come yet.
We all worked for the morning and then took showers and put on our new United Peace Relief tshirts with our beautiful logo made by James Sibbet. We took off for the 9th ward in New Orleans and the Thanksgiving feast. What a lovely reception and great food to boot. I love the way they spice the veggies down here. It was a gathering of the LOCAL RESIDENTS and volunteers many young college age people from all over the United States. A collective of actors put on an impromptu act that chilled us all with its beauty and emotion.
We wandered around the neighborhood, mostly deserted, trying to decifer the markings on all of the houses that the inspectors spray painted when they looked for human and animal bodies. The earliest date I saw was 9/11, since the flooding of New Orleans started on August 31, it was 11 days later until anyone made it to see if people needed help. There was a local man there who was stranded on his roof for 3 days before he was rescued. We saw houses with vents broken out in the attics where people tried to escape.
The house markings were divided into four sections, with date of inspection, number of human reamins found (all I saw were 0), the number of animals found, and who did the inspection. Many of the houses had messages like, "2 dogs under porch", "cat alive/SPCA". SPCA stands for Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This was a message for the SPCA to come in and help the animals. Today there were food and water stations set up by the SPCA that had clean water and food available for the animals who are still alive.
There is a free clinic run by Common Ground in the 9th ward, while I was there a man came in with chest pain. He was in distress and had misplaced his Nitroglycerin. One of the nurses gave him an aspirin and we put him in a car and sent him to the hospital.
Another local woman whose house had been under water, owns her house outright. She does not have the money for the gutting and reconstruction. She said her only choice is to wait for the government to come and repair her house. She feels the government is responsible for the lack of proper funding for the construction of the leavies, so they need to take the responsibility to fix her house. I am afraid she is going to have a long wait.
That evening we went back to Slidell, happy and with hope. We sat around the campfire and relaxed into the night. Of course all of us called our families today to check in and tell them how much we love them and thank them for the sacrifice of not having us at home on this special day for families.
We woke up to the mist over the meadows and the bayou. Everyone happy about our successes and feeling thankful for our life and our group of wonderful people who are choosing to volunteer to give service in this disaster.
We decided to spend the morning cleaning the debris from the yard of the lady next door. Her house was flooded in the 20 foot surge of water and then sat in 6 feet of water for 36 hours. Her house is full of black mold, her furniture is all tumbled and ruined. She has not been able to return to her home. We have volunteered to help her out. First thing is to clean the rubble from her yard so that FEMA can bring in a trailer for her to live in. We did that and started the process of hauling out her furnature.
The problem today is that we are waiting on our respirators and protection suits. Black mold is toxic and causes respiratory problems, rashes, and red eyes. The people who have no choice are trying to live in their houses and paint over the mold. Unfortunetly the mold thrives behind that paint and hidden in their mattress. They come in with asthma and say they have allergies that have developed since Katrina. Words can never describe the extent of this problem, it goes on for more than one hundred miles in cities and rural areas, thousands upon thousands of homes. People with money are quick to get their houses gutted and disinfected. People without money are up against the wall waiting for help from the government that has not come yet.
We all worked for the morning and then took showers and put on our new United Peace Relief tshirts with our beautiful logo made by James Sibbet. We took off for the 9th ward in New Orleans and the Thanksgiving feast. What a lovely reception and great food to boot. I love the way they spice the veggies down here. It was a gathering of the LOCAL RESIDENTS and volunteers many young college age people from all over the United States. A collective of actors put on an impromptu act that chilled us all with its beauty and emotion.
We wandered around the neighborhood, mostly deserted, trying to decifer the markings on all of the houses that the inspectors spray painted when they looked for human and animal bodies. The earliest date I saw was 9/11, since the flooding of New Orleans started on August 31, it was 11 days later until anyone made it to see if people needed help. There was a local man there who was stranded on his roof for 3 days before he was rescued. We saw houses with vents broken out in the attics where people tried to escape.
The house markings were divided into four sections, with date of inspection, number of human reamins found (all I saw were 0), the number of animals found, and who did the inspection. Many of the houses had messages like, "2 dogs under porch", "cat alive/SPCA". SPCA stands for Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This was a message for the SPCA to come in and help the animals. Today there were food and water stations set up by the SPCA that had clean water and food available for the animals who are still alive.
There is a free clinic run by Common Ground in the 9th ward, while I was there a man came in with chest pain. He was in distress and had misplaced his Nitroglycerin. One of the nurses gave him an aspirin and we put him in a car and sent him to the hospital.
Another local woman whose house had been under water, owns her house outright. She does not have the money for the gutting and reconstruction. She said her only choice is to wait for the government to come and repair her house. She feels the government is responsible for the lack of proper funding for the construction of the leavies, so they need to take the responsibility to fix her house. I am afraid she is going to have a long wait.
That evening we went back to Slidell, happy and with hope. We sat around the campfire and relaxed into the night. Of course all of us called our families today to check in and tell them how much we love them and thank them for the sacrifice of not having us at home on this special day for families.