In this enlightening and inspiring story, MSIA Minister Lisa McCartney shares her experiences of volunteering at the Austin Convention Center, home to Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
Please hold us all in the Light for the highest good. I wish that I could share with you all of the amazing and uplifting stories, but they would certainly fill the pages of a book. I do want to take a moment though, to try to convey to you a sense of what we are experiencing with the evacuees who are housed in Austin, as I believe it is an important story to tell. My understanding is that similar stories are surfacing wherever people have opened their hearts in loving support of those who have been displaced by this storm.
First of all, thank you so much for your outpouring of love and support. We are still gathering cash, gift cards, furniture and household supplies to help our friends in need. This will be an ongoing project for the foreseeable months, and any support that you can offer will be very welcome. Once we get the basic needs handled, I believe that there will be a great need for emotional and spiritual support as survivors and rescue workers/volunteers “process” their individual experiences and move toward healing. Regardless of your ability to contribute on the physical level, please do continue to send your Light and Loving, as powerful shifts in consciousness are happening, and many lives are being positively transformed.
In an attempt to give you an experience of what it’s like to be “on scene,” the Austin convention center is a massive structure. There is wide outer hallway that rings the larger rooms where the evacuees sleep. This hallway has become a small city, and it happened overnight. Every federal, state and local agency seems to have a presence in this hallway. Most of the volunteers are staffing these resource areas and helping people get their lives back on track. Scattered amongst all of this, there is a barber shop and beauty salon, there are volunteers giving free massages, there is a childcare area, there is a basketball court with kids playing and laughing. Right next to the basketball court there is a Roman Catholic Priest delivering noon mass (the faith community has responded en mass, with nearly every religion and spiritual path represented and supporting in some way). Just past that there is an AA meeting in progress. Next to that is the door to the counseling center, set up to try to tend to the emotional needs of our visitors.
Once you leave the hallway and enter the massive interior rooms of the center, you really get a sense of what it takes to support 5000 evacuees and the thousands of volunteers who are assisting them. There is a complete medical center (ER, beds, lab, pharmacy, etc). The cafeteria offers 3 daily catered meals for everyone & snacks etc. are available throughout the day. There is a clothing & supply area where the evacuees can get almost anything they need. There are also shower facilities set up that can accommodate about 100 people at a time. There are 4 huge rooms that house the evacuees. Each room holds approximately 1000 people on small cots, each cot about 6 inches away from the other.
When I first walked into the sleeping rooms I thought to myself “there is no way that I could live here for a day, much less for weeks or months”. I’m sure that many of the evacuees said the same thing when they walked in. However, there seems to be an unexpected thing that is happening here. It appears as though the evacuees themselves have settled into “neighborhoods”. They all know the people who live near them, they look out for each other and take care of each other, many of them pray together. I remember growing up as a kid, and my street had “block parties” where we would block off the street, pull our picnic tables to the center and have a huge potluck, spending the evening together talking and laughing. It was so loving and joyful. There is this amazing block party energy that is presenting itself in the rooms of this convention center.
Each day there are many hundreds of volunteers who come in to assist in whatever way they can. At first many of the evacuees seemed reluctant and even afraid of us. I believe that there may have been some fear present in many of the volunteers too. All of it based in some negative fantasy that seemed to be perpetuated by the media. Each day whatever it was that seemed to separate us has melted away until all that remains is the truth — we are all one. I’d like to share with you some of my personal experiences in the understanding and knowing of this truth and what I’ve learned from some of the many teachers whom I’ve met along the way.
I believe that the two women (Stacy & Tracy) who are staying with me will likely find permanent housing in the next couple of weeks. They have encountered such love and community here that they have decided to make Austin their home. They asked me to convey their heartfelt appreciation for you and all that you’ve done. I believe that we will be lifelong friends. These two women have taught me a great deal about partnership and resourcefulness.
I have also “adopted” another two gentle souls and intend to assist them in a greater way as soon as we have Stacy & Tracy squared away. They are both beautiful women who are around 80 years young. Miss Myrtle has been through so much the past couple of weeks and now finds herself in a new city with no family or friends from her “past” life (many people refer to their lives before the storm as their past lives). However, she has a sweet laugh and a joyful spirit, and she will gladly list for you all the blessings she has experienced as a result of this “tragedy”. From her I have learned the power of faith, and its ability to see you through even the darkest times. Miss Agnes is a soft spoken and proud woman who has nothing from her “past” life except the Bible that she carried with her through the flood. She says she would never ask for help. She is slowly opening to the idea of allowing herself to be assisted and loved. I have learned from her that the ability to receive is just as important at the ability to give. Both Miss Agnes and Miss Myrtle intend to spend the rest of their days in the beautiful city of Austin Texas, “God Willing”.
Last week I was at a table in the hallway when an African American gentleman who looked to be in his 50’s, asked me a question. I didn’t know the answer, but I took his hand and walked with him until we found the information that he needed. He thanked me and walked away. About 20 minutes later he returned (this is quite a feat as the crowd is massive and it would have taken some effort on his part to walk the distance back and then be able to find me)…he came up to me and said “I had to come back here and thank you. You don’t know what it means to me to have someone like you be so willing to help someone like me. You don’t know what it means to me to have someone like you reach out and take my hand. There are so many of you here who are doing the same thing, you are all so kind. I wish I could thank every one of you, but I just had to come back and tell you this.” We both started crying and embraced each other for some time. It seemed in that moment as though we were a channel through which a planet full of people cleared lifetimes of racism, fear and misunderstanding. I could feel things clearing and lifting that didn’t belong to me, or to him. From this I learned the power of grace.
While sitting in the cafeteria the other day, Stacy pointed out a woman across the room. She said that woman was the most feared street person in New Orleans. She had a reputation as being very dirty and no one ever spoke to her. Stacy said that she believed the woman was deaf/mute as she had tried to communicate with her once before and never gotten a response. On this day, the woman was clean and wearing new clothes. She had been to the beauty shop and gotten her hair done. She was sitting at a table with other evacuees making conversation. Stacy was touched by how happy she seemed. Transformation was the lesson. Kindness and caring can transform in a most powerful way.
On Saturday, a man walked up to me and handed me a piece of paper and then walked away. I noticed that he was handing out pieces of paper to many of the volunteers. Once I had a moment to stop, I opened the paper and found a handwritten thank you note. Judging from the spelling on the card, it would seem as though this man is probably unable to read, however, it was the most heartfelt and beautiful card I had ever received. I have never felt so appreciated or cared for. The lesson from this teacher was one of gratitude.
As I walked toward the entrance of the convention center a few days ago, there was a crowd gathered around. The crowd murmured that the confrontations and “problems” which everyone had feared were about to erupt. There was a young African American man who had his shirt off and had obviously been in an altercation. He seemed very worked up and agitated. He was surrounded by 5 large, male, Caucasian police officers. The young man looked as though he was ready for a fight and seemed to be afraid for his life. The crowd seemed to anticipate that the police would soon turn violent toward this man. One of the police walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder and said “you’ve been through a lot, it’s ok. You just got a little worked up, there’s no problem here. Go ahead and put your shirt on, everything’s fine.” They talked to him for a few minutes and shook hands, then the young man walked freely back into the convention center and the police went on about their business. The entire crowd seemed to change in this moment. That which they had been expecting didn’t materialize, instead compassion reigned. From this I learned the importance of tenderness and understanding.
I met a little boy last Monday. His name is Latrell and he is 8 years old. He watched his neighbors drown in the flood, and then he saw an elderly woman being strangled to death at the Superdome. We spent a lot of time together just talking. He said “I don’t know why all of this is happening, but I know that God has a reason. God has helped us get this far, and now God is giving us a new life. Maybe in this life I will be able to go to school without being afraid, maybe in this life, people will be nicer to each other.” I saw Latrell again yesterday. His spirit seems much lighter. He started at his new school and his family has made the decision to stay in Austin. The school sent buses over to pick up the children of evacuees. Each child was given a new backpack filled with school supplies. Each evacuee child was assigned a child from the school to be their “buddy” and walk with them through each class, showing them where to go and what to do. The children at the schools made banners that said “we love you”, “we’re happy you’re here,” and “you are safe here.” I saw Latrell through the window of the bus as it left, he was sitting next to his new buddy. He smiled at me and gave me a “thumbs up”. From Latrell I learned about resiliency, forgiveness and the power of loving to heal.
This experience has given me the opportunity to look at the places in my own consciousness where there was separation and flood them with the Light of Spirit. I continue to be amazed and profoundly moved by my experiences, and know that my life has changed because of it. I believe that the winds of that hurricane were really the winds of change, and that the flood was really a baptism of renewal and hope. I encourage us all to find that place of grace inside of ourselves where loving, compassion and peace reside, and share them with the world in ways great and small.
God bless us all,
Lisa
Other articles from MSIAers and their experiences of hurricane Katrina
A Message From MSIA’s Spiritual Director John Morton About Hurricane Katrina.
After the Storm, the Light of Loving Shines Through.
Poems by Children at the Cajundome Shelter for Hurricane Katrina Evacuees.
Loving Care of Evacuees from New Orleans.
