Kate's letter on Phoenix- Incredible!
02/09/2006 18:06
Phoenix
La. was founded in the early 1800's by the current
matriarch's grandfather. For a Black man in the
1800's to purchase land big enough to be turned
into a small town of 600 people in Southern
Louisiana, is amazing to me; especially since bearing
witness to some of the most racist institutions
and practices in America down in areas of the
Gulf Coast., in 2005. I didn't stay long enough
to learn all of the particulars of the founding of
this town though, I did stay long enough
to fall head over heels in love with the people
of this town.
My first day there I met Ms. Dorothy. It was her 81st birthday and she needed help getting the seaweed up that laid all over her very, big yard, along with debris from God knows where? The salt water rose up to the rim of Ms Dorothy's roof. The only thing she was sad about losing was her azaleas and her palm trees. They had been under the salt water for far too, long. Ms. Dorothy was hard to keep up with. I found myself saying I was sorry when I needed to take a break, because she was ready to keep going and going. She is twice my age and gave me one of the toughest work outs of my life.
All but twenty houses in Phoenix, will have to be bulldozed. All of the animals that once lived with the 600 residents were all killed in the storm. The only structure that isn't a home or animal shelter is a church. The Traveling Zion Baptist Church sits at the entrance of this small town, it now sits totally gutted. While I was there with three other volunteers we sleep in the church which had a blue roof tarp for a door, no water, heat, or electricity.
One of the first things I noticed about everyone I met in this town was their sense of humor. Where most folks would be crying at the complete lose these folks used humor to keep from crying. After having worked in the town for two days it was time for me to go to the next place I had promised to go to. I found myself missing the little town of Phoenix. I missed their positive attitudes. I missed their humor and most of all I missed there gratitude. Phoenix has never had help re-building before. This time though they realized they did need help and when volunteers showed up they were grateful. They are even grateful for the little bit of help from FEMA. Only 14 trailers have been delivered and some of them without the keys and they are still grateful.
When my friend Yvette, from Boston called me from Phoenix to come back and help her get the distribution center open that she had been working for a week almost , I jumped on the chance. Five months after the disaster and it took a school teacher from Boston to get Phoenix La. a distribution center? I spent another two days and nights there. While I was there I learned some things that I found shocking, yet not. They have a crack problem in their town just like everywhere else. They are equally at a loss as to what to do about it? The people of Phoenix were deeply concerned for their neighbors on the west bank of the river, and concerned for the people further down south in Native American country. I wasn't so much shocked by this as awed by it. To be so concerned for others when you have just lost everything is a strength I am sorry to say I do not yet, possess.
On the Saturday the distribution center opened there were many families that returned from as far a way a Mississippi. The town was alive with possibilities and hope for their future. Early Sunday morning the four of us volunteers in the church got up folded up the cots we slept on cleaned as best we could the floors. We picked wild flowers to sit on a make-shift altar. The women in town set up folding chairs and covered lawn furniture in white sheets and had them face the front of their empty church. Only an old graphic print hung on the wall it said" The spirits of your ancestors are with you" and there was a yellow impression of a slave ship and names all around the inside of the ship and then outside. With no musical instruments we started out singing "Amazing Grace". By the end of the hour the church was rocking. The church thanked the volunteers and even though they said we weren't what they had in mind for volunteers as strange as we all were, they were grateful we were the ones who showed up. They were so thankful and joyous it was hard not to cry. By the end of service the older women in the church were sing oldtime spirituals that I have never heard. They filled their church with the spirit. They again thanked us and told us that we helped them grow. But it works both ways they helped me grow. We weren't what they were expecting and neither were they. I thought I'd find a bunch of depressed people complaining about the government but what I found were some of the most grateful, joyful, salt of the earth people you could ever meet.
Phoenix like most places have a long way to go before they are back to normal. If it can ever be normal there again. Like many other communities in the South of Louisiana they will have to one day soon think about where they will have to re-locate. The water is rising and the land is sinking. And even though that is not at the forefront of their mind they know they will have to give it some serious thought. In the mean time Phoenix La. Needs volunteers to help get their beloved community stabilized. They need building materials, home depo cards, rite aid cards, money, food, and like everyone water. If you would like to help this town check out the Common Ground website. Commongroundrelief.org Write the church: Traveling Zion Baptist Church Phoenix La.70040 or call Morris and Ann @1.504.606.1689 tell them Kate from Detroit sent you. Thank you!
My first day there I met Ms. Dorothy. It was her 81st birthday and she needed help getting the seaweed up that laid all over her very, big yard, along with debris from God knows where? The salt water rose up to the rim of Ms Dorothy's roof. The only thing she was sad about losing was her azaleas and her palm trees. They had been under the salt water for far too, long. Ms. Dorothy was hard to keep up with. I found myself saying I was sorry when I needed to take a break, because she was ready to keep going and going. She is twice my age and gave me one of the toughest work outs of my life.
All but twenty houses in Phoenix, will have to be bulldozed. All of the animals that once lived with the 600 residents were all killed in the storm. The only structure that isn't a home or animal shelter is a church. The Traveling Zion Baptist Church sits at the entrance of this small town, it now sits totally gutted. While I was there with three other volunteers we sleep in the church which had a blue roof tarp for a door, no water, heat, or electricity.
One of the first things I noticed about everyone I met in this town was their sense of humor. Where most folks would be crying at the complete lose these folks used humor to keep from crying. After having worked in the town for two days it was time for me to go to the next place I had promised to go to. I found myself missing the little town of Phoenix. I missed their positive attitudes. I missed their humor and most of all I missed there gratitude. Phoenix has never had help re-building before. This time though they realized they did need help and when volunteers showed up they were grateful. They are even grateful for the little bit of help from FEMA. Only 14 trailers have been delivered and some of them without the keys and they are still grateful.
When my friend Yvette, from Boston called me from Phoenix to come back and help her get the distribution center open that she had been working for a week almost , I jumped on the chance. Five months after the disaster and it took a school teacher from Boston to get Phoenix La. a distribution center? I spent another two days and nights there. While I was there I learned some things that I found shocking, yet not. They have a crack problem in their town just like everywhere else. They are equally at a loss as to what to do about it? The people of Phoenix were deeply concerned for their neighbors on the west bank of the river, and concerned for the people further down south in Native American country. I wasn't so much shocked by this as awed by it. To be so concerned for others when you have just lost everything is a strength I am sorry to say I do not yet, possess.
On the Saturday the distribution center opened there were many families that returned from as far a way a Mississippi. The town was alive with possibilities and hope for their future. Early Sunday morning the four of us volunteers in the church got up folded up the cots we slept on cleaned as best we could the floors. We picked wild flowers to sit on a make-shift altar. The women in town set up folding chairs and covered lawn furniture in white sheets and had them face the front of their empty church. Only an old graphic print hung on the wall it said" The spirits of your ancestors are with you" and there was a yellow impression of a slave ship and names all around the inside of the ship and then outside. With no musical instruments we started out singing "Amazing Grace". By the end of the hour the church was rocking. The church thanked the volunteers and even though they said we weren't what they had in mind for volunteers as strange as we all were, they were grateful we were the ones who showed up. They were so thankful and joyous it was hard not to cry. By the end of service the older women in the church were sing oldtime spirituals that I have never heard. They filled their church with the spirit. They again thanked us and told us that we helped them grow. But it works both ways they helped me grow. We weren't what they were expecting and neither were they. I thought I'd find a bunch of depressed people complaining about the government but what I found were some of the most grateful, joyful, salt of the earth people you could ever meet.
Phoenix like most places have a long way to go before they are back to normal. If it can ever be normal there again. Like many other communities in the South of Louisiana they will have to one day soon think about where they will have to re-locate. The water is rising and the land is sinking. And even though that is not at the forefront of their mind they know they will have to give it some serious thought. In the mean time Phoenix La. Needs volunteers to help get their beloved community stabilized. They need building materials, home depo cards, rite aid cards, money, food, and like everyone water. If you would like to help this town check out the Common Ground website. Commongroundrelief.org Write the church: Traveling Zion Baptist Church Phoenix La.70040 or call Morris and Ann @1.504.606.1689 tell them Kate from Detroit sent you. Thank you!