A few days before the trip many of us had just finished up our last exam and were experiencing the typical finals fatigue. By choice we stayed at the library for too long and ingested inhuman amounts of caffeine. For law students those two weeks are the most difficult weeks of the year.
One of the reasons I volunteered to come on this trip was to gain a new perspective on my life. Selfishly I wanted the people - who have already experienced tremendous atrocities - to teach me something. I hoped that our work would be helpful and I knew that I would see some people in dismal living conditions.
For three days we visited some of the finest FEMA trailer parks and I learned more in 72 hours about life then I did in my first two semesters of law school. It is a humbling (an appropriate word used by another volunteer) experience to hear stories from the people who lost their homes and almost all of their possessions in the worst national disaster in American history.
Each person’s and each family’s experiences are so unique yet so similar. One man has to care for his ten month old twins in a trailer smaller than my bedroom without their mother who passed away during child birth. He cannot find work because he has no way to find a babysitter.
Another family was being forced out of their trailer the day we visited. The mother and the two children have developed chronic health problems from their trailers and were moving for the third time since Katrina – this time to a hotel so the fourth move is only weeks away.
I spoke with two families who were moving in with a spouse’s parents. One of the families was moving to Illinois in hopes of some stability. The wife told me that the kids get along with their grandparents so it could be a get thing. The constant moving takes it toll on the children who often have to switch schools once they move. A little extra marginalization for the youth we should be most worried about.
The people we visited were white and black, young and old. Some were more willing to share their experiences than others. Despite the superficial differences there was one common thread. Everyone was boxed in literally and metaphorically.
They were all at the mercy of the fickle people at FEMA who decided when they had to move. Worse some were put into places so small that there was no way they could keep all of what little possessions they had left. For many people (including me) this type of suffocation would cause them to lose hope and some people in the trailers had become cynical.
Our own government has been shuffling them in and out of trailers with disrespect and disregard for their dignity. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) FEMA has engaged in an oral misinformation campaign to get people out of their trailers quicker. The people at FEMA inform them that they have to leave by a certain date but usually do not say why or put it in writing. Part of our job was to let people know that FEMA had to help them until March 1, 2009 because FEMA conveniently forgot to tell them.
After jumping over too many hurdles already, they are faced with the gigantic hurdle of getting information from the federal government. I hoped that our Nation’s goal was to help people as quickly as possible and not shift them around.
The trip has made me realize when grades come in two weeks I cannot get too happy or too sad. If I do not make Journal or Law Review it is not the end of the world. No matter what happens I have it pretty good and will now appreciate everything more.
Angus Crawford
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