A story

The following account, written by a woman who is hosting a Hurricane Katrina evacuee from New Orleans, comes from a recent MoveOn.org email that's soliciting donations to help Katrina survivors organize and get some real action in Washington. I feel compelled and even honored to share it here:

The stories my evacuee tells are ten times worse than the reports in the media. A dental technician, she is divorced with two kids and lived in the lower 9th ward (one block from the levee break.) She spent a week at the Superdome and viewed first hand the most horrifying events a person could experience... She made a deal with a man who seemed nice that they would sleep in shifts and watch over each other so their shoes wouldn't be stolen as they slept.

Everyone in the Superdome knew the National Guard was unarmed and could not maintain order. After the shooting of a National Guard, they pulled out. One Guardsman she befriended gave her his knife and told her to hide. She didn't drink the water but thought that brushing her teeth with it would be ok...it wasn't. Because of the poison water she was violently ill for 2 days with no hydration or medical care. The unarmed National Guard trucks only had one driver in most cases and were routinely hijacked by armed looters who then sold the water ($2) and MREs on the streets.

1200 buses each holding 50-55 people were bused to various locations. They announced that they were taking women, children and the elderly first. Men rioted and grabbed children and the elderly and pushed their way on to the buses claiming 'this is my child and we have to stay together.' This may be one of the reasons that so many people were separated. She was then taken to Houston where they waited outside in hot crowded buses while a near riot occurred in the Houston Astrodome.

Next she was bused to Baton Rouge. She walked out of Baton Rouge on a highway where some kind men in a pickup truck stopped and asked her if she was fleeing the hurricane. She said 'yes' and told them where she had been. They offered to take her to bus station, buy her a ticket anywhere she wanted to go and bought her a change of clothing. She went north into Alabama where the sister of her best friend lived. From there she went on the internet to find temporary housing in ATL. My notice was on the MoveOn.Org website. She cross-referenced it with job offers and decided that Marietta, an Atlanta suburb was safe, had some transportation and the hiring market was good. We talked on the phone and my brother and I went to Alabama to pick her up. As we drove back, we listened in horror as she told us her stories. Then, exhausted, she fell asleep in the car while still talking.

As she got settled in, I told her that, 'if it was me, first thing I'd do is sit down and have a good cry.' She said that, 'she had been crying for two solid weeks and she couldn't cry any more.' ...She had to swim in 20' deep water to reach safety where even worse things were waiting for her.

I have a spare bedroom, spare full bath and closet. Small closet was not a problem because she only had one little plastic bag of clothes. The next morning, she asked if we could get her a paper so she could start looking for a job. She sat down at the computer on Sunday and did her resume, then she faxed it to dental practices that were advertising on the same day (thanks to a neighbor downstairs with a fax.) Another neighbor contributed some clothing. By email I rounded up everybody I know who, in turn, put together all their resources. In a week, we've come up with clothes, money, 2 shopping trips, gift certificates, some books to read and furniture...

Through this experience I have come to believe that the news media is underestimating the horror and number of dead. The reality is at least 10 times worse than what we have been led to believe. She personally viewed many dead bodies floating in the water and even more animals. I don't have a lot of money to give to the Red Cross, but I can help put one person back on their feet. If every person assumed responsibility for one of the evacuees, this would be over a lot faster.

The government at every level and the aid agencies have been proven to be giant lumbering elephants that are incapable of reacting quickly in a crisis. I personally have never been so angry with an American President as I am at this time. I will never get the image out of my head of Pres. Bush FLYING OVER THE DAMAGE and not stopping to see firsthand how our neighbors on the Guld Coast are suffering. I am flabbergasted by the callous ineptitude of the President, FEMA and all levels of government involved in this disaster. Every terrorist in the world now knows how weak were are and how slow we are to react. God save us from ourselves.
–Ellen, Marietta, Georgia