The State of the Survivors

Joshwa Coyette, 3, cries Saturday inside the Houston Astrodome, where he’s staying with his siblings. Their mother is still missing.


I have been ignoring this blog for the past few days to allow this Katrina disaster to sink in. I chose not to post anything on the disaster since I couldn't really add anything that wasn't already covered by someone, somewhere and why bother regurgitating the same stuff in different words?

I guess I can only relate my first-hand experience with the survivors I have met here in Houston.

I ride the MetroRail everyday and my first stop is at the Astrodome. Yesterday, I overhead a gentleman on the train mention that he was from New Orleans and was looking for work. I can't say he was lacking in confidence because he was holding a new plastic hard hat he had apparently just bought that was still in its packaging. I engaged him in conversation and soon heard a lot.

I heard how he had waded through chest-high water, passed several bodies (he said they just tied the body to a tree or other fixture so it wouldn't float away).

I heard how he, his fiancee, and daughter were here in Houston while his other daughter was taken to California.

I heard him say he probably would never go back to Louisiana and plans to stay here. He said he would probably go back and salvage what he could, then return here to start a new life. That is what I have heard from everyone I talked to; they don't want to go back...nothing there for them anymore.

I heard him say he worked construction for the City of New Orleans and he showed me his employee card.

I also heard him say all he wanted was a "hot" meal. They seemed to take good care of them in the dome but hot food was not a real priority. "You have to have hot food." He said.

I showed him the construction sites along the train route, the hospital district, and the downtown district.

We talked for awhile until my train stop came up. I took him with me to my office in downtown Houston to try and contact someone from the crew that is doing the remodeling here. When we reached the lobby, we ran into a guy that worked for the company installing automation lines. He too was from Louisiana.
He got some phone numbers from the guy and took off back to the train to get off at the hospital stop and check the construction sites around there.
I guess he found a job because he hasn't called back.

It also seems that the population in and around the astrodome area has dropped considerably. I heard it has gone from 25,000 to around 9,000 people.

That is good.

It's good to see the people getting back on their feet,back into life, and not sitting around waiting for a handout.

Things are getting better.