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Student Volunteers Find Gulf Coast Still Hurting
by Christopher Hewitt
I saw a dead bird flying through a broken sky...
-You're Da Man -- Nas
Click photos to enlarge
Someone's Home after Katrina
Brian Cornwell and Chris Hewitt talking
Housing for people whose houses are gone
Catherine Edwards
The side of Catherine Edwards parents' house moved by surge
Backyard of Catherine Edward's parents' home |
| Volunteers |
Susan Beane
Bryson Bettini
Bethany Brooks
Johnny Brown
Kristalyn Bunyan
Caty Carpenter
René Carr
Erin Carter
Allison Collins
Brian Danforth
Joseph Deng
Stan Dotson
Terri Farless
Cindy Farlow
Joey Fusco
Christa Gaffer
Missy Harris
Blake Hart
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Mr Hart
Mrs Hart
Chris Hewitt
Quenby Keisler
Nick Landers
Brad Nagel
Beka Nelms
Chris Nelms
Amanda Orders
Joseph Quattlebaum
Cassandra Rising
Alex Sams
Landon Searcy
Pam Sherwood
John Templeton
David Thon
Tabatha Woodson
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Twisted, torn and uprooted trees reach up as if calling for help. The ground where houses once stood looks dead and swelling, as if it is crying. A cracked blue and white teacup lies in a pile of debris. Mother Nature has raged war on the Gulf Coast and taken no prisoners.
The town of Pass Christian, Mississippi was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed everything in its path and left homes in ruins and people praying for better days.
"I never expected to see damage of this magnitude" said Mars Hill Sophomore Nick Landers, as he surveyed the ruins around him.
Mars Hill College student volunteers arrived in Pass Christian during Spring Break to join in an effort to help the community rebuild. Lifeworks and Christian Student Movement (CSM) sponsored the six-day trip. Thirty-five people participated, including 27 students, six faculty-staff members and two parents.
It was Saturday, March 12, at around eight a.m. that the group embarked on the journey from Mars Hill to Mississippi in four passenger vans. Before leaving, everyone clasped hands for prayers. As the vans began to pull out of Mars Hill, the sun peered out over a cloud.
It was a long trip. At 11 p.m. we made our way into the town of Pass Christian. Nightfall clouded the vision of the town, yet even in the dark, the piles of debris could be seen rising as high as houses. Signs posted on poles all over the town stated, "We Need Help".
The men stayed at the home of Mary Ann and Lawrence Yarborough and slept on air mattresses. The women stayed a few miles down the road with Pat and Bob Erekson.
Most of our meals were eaten in the center of town at a big white tent known as the FEMA tent with many other volunteers and townspeople.
Brian Cornwell, resident of Pass Christian, showed great hospitality by feeding us two nights we were there. The red beans and rice and the chicken and jambola filled our stomachs and awakened our taste buds.
The work that was done was assigned by Amy Hardee, a volunteer from North Carolina who coordinated the rebuilding of people's homes.
The jobs ranged from picking up debris and planting flowers to knocking out walls. The group split into teams and headed to different job sites.
The town of Pass Christian lost 100 percent of its jobs. Eighty percent of the homes were destroyed. The rest are not livable. While Mars Hill students complain about the food in the cafeteria, there are people in Pass Christian who do not know where their next meal is coming from.
August 29 was when Katrina hit the community, yet at first glance it looks like it hit yesterday. There is so much work that needs to be done. Many people still have not been found. There is no real body count for people who died. Many family members are still missing. Many of those who survived have no home left and have been forced to leave. The population before Katrina was 7000. Now only 1500 remain.
Many of the victims of the hurricane live in tents or trailers supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). When we arrived, many were still eating most of their meals in the big white FEMA tent in the center of town. By the end of our stay in Pass Christian, the FEMA feeding tent was closing down, leaving people to find other means of eating.
Eighty-seven families were living nearby in green military tents. They called their group of tents "The Village." Driving though, you might think it was an army base.
Yet in the midst of all this tragedy, the people of Pass Christian are so welcoming to everyone. A sense of warmth was given off by each individual we met. They may not have much, but they are willing to give their all to help their neighbors and those who have come to help them
Many remembered Hurricane Camille, which hit on August 17, 1969, bringing 200 mile-per-hour winds that destroyed the town of Pass Christian in three hours. Yet Pass Christian resident Perry Harshbarger says the damage from Katrina was even greater.
Harshbarger feared for his life during Katrina. He did not leave when he got news of the hurricane. He stayed to wait the storm out.
"It got real bad. The power went out. I had to light a candle. The winds came through. Then came the water. I got about ten feet of water in here," he said showing volunteers what was left of his house.
"I was up in the attic, and I had to swim out the door. When the water came, I thought, 'This is it. I am going to die in this damn storm. I held onto the conduit wire on the meter box and rode it out there. That's what I held onto as the water rose. I went all the way to the top of it."
When the water stopped rising, he climbed up onto the roof of the house. It took three days for the two deputies to find him and his neighbor, who had to swim out of a window.
"After the storm, oh man, it was just tore up. It was unreal. People's cars - I didn't even know whose they were - were floating in the yard. There was nothing moving. You didn't see nobody. You didn't see a bird. Nothing. It was just quiet. It was eerie. I've been here through every one of the hurricanes - Betsy in '65, Camille in '69, Elena in '85, and now this one. But this was the worst one."
Harshbarger is going to place the wire that saved his life in a glass case that reads, "Break In Case of Hurricane." He smiled, looked at the sky, touched his cap, and said, "I lived for a reason. I just do not know what it is."
Harshbarger's house did not have flood insurance, so he is rebuilding with the money from FEMA and work from volunteers. "If it was not for the volunteers, this place would be in the same place it was when the hurricane hit."
Many town residents told us they are grateful to all the volunteers that have aided in the clean-up of the town.
From tearing down walls to knocking plaster to the floor, there was no job that we did not take up. The work was done in a cheerful manner. Everyone was singing. People would take up a task and work hard while telling jokes. The atmosphere was not of a place where tragedy had struck but as if everyone were family.
As we picked up debris in the yard of David and Catherine Edwards and carried it to the street, people in the town would stop, wave and smile. The feeling of appreciation was just overflowing.
Catherine Edwards, the daughter of David and Catherine, came down from college at the University of North Carolina to help her parents. She told what happened at her parents' house during the hurricane.
"My parents ended up staying there, thinking that the surge wouldn't get there since the house is 28 feet above sea level - the ground is. And it would have to be 32 feet of surge to get inside the house. As it turned out, more than 32 feet -- we had about 35 to 38 feet of surge. The house got about two feet of water.
"But they rode it out there, and miraculously the trees in the yard fell the one direction they could not to split through the roof of the house and the attic that they were staying in. So we got real lucky."
Edwards said the house had withstood Camille in '69, which brought more wind but didn't fill the house with water. When the big surge from Katrina came in, it came fairly slowly, so her parents were able to scramble up to the attic, where they waited out the storm. "So we're enormously lucky that they were spared and that the house was spared. A lot of people weren't quite as lucky."
Edwards was grateful to the Mars Hill College volunteers for the work they did. "You 'all did a great job with the yard. I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they walk into the yard."
The people of Pass Christian are set on making their town better than it was. The signs around the town say, "We will rebuild."
Resident Anne Watts told the volunteers, "There is a special place in our hearts for you all."
The volunteers gathered each night to reflect on their experience, writing their thoughts on index cards that were later typed onto sheets and shared.
| Help rebuild, one house at a time.
Take comfort in the fact that we are all
participating in something greater than ourselves.
People's kindness (shines) in the midst of tragedy.
Every piece of trash tells a story of someone's life.
This trip has changed the way I think about Katrina.
Hoooooopla
Work doesn't seem like work
when you are in the company of friends.
I saw a small child playing among a pile debris,
happy and seemingly carefree
-yes even in the midst of total devastation,
life goes on….
We will rebuild…
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