MSIA Minister, Lisa McCartney, shares wisdom, learning and stories from hurricane Katrina evacuees at the Austin Convention Center and her experiences of serving there.
So many of you have asked for an update on what’s happening here in Austin with the evacuees. Thank you all so much for your outpouring of love and support. The Light energy that you’ve sent has been a source of consistent power and renewal. The stories of strength and hope continue to spill forth just as plentifully as the tears of grief and loss. Here are a few of the continued blessings that I’ve witnessed:
As the days went by, the grey, cinderblock walls of the Austin Convention Center “sleeping rooms” began to be decorated by Austinites wishing to, in some small way, make the evacuees feel more at home. One in particular that stuck out to me was a large series of posters that had many beautiful pictures of New Orleans (photos representing the New Orleans culture, music, food, architecture, history, heritage) and several colorful Mardi Gras masks, beads, etc. In huge letters, the poster said: “New Orleans, we love you. You have given so much. You will rise again. Now, let us give to you.”
At the back of the Convention Center there is a large, open-air loading dock area where they’ve built showers for the evacuees. For the first few days of the relocation, this area seemed to be a place where a lot of negative energy gathered. Much of the conversation in this area focused on the “horrible” way that the government handled the situation in New Orleans, and the outrage of the people who experienced it. There seemed to be a great deal of anger amongst the people who hung out at the loading dock. There was loud rap music playing that someone described as “thug” music, and it seemed to fuel this energy. I happened to walk through the loading dock again about ten days into the relocation and there had been a huge shift. The walls in the loading dock area had become a literal expression of gratitude. There were hundreds of pieces of paper and handmade cards from the evacuees thanking the volunteers and the people of Austin for their love and support. Other than thank you, the four words that I saw written on the wall most often were “God Bless” and “Praise God.” There was dancing, and the music that was loudly playing on this day was “What’s Goin’ On” by Marvin Gaye. The words seemed so prophetic in that moment:
Mother, mother
there’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
there’s far too many of you dying
you know we’ve got to find a way
to bring some loving here today.
Father, father
we don’t need to escalate.
War is not the answer
for only love can conquer hate.
You know we’ve got to find a way
to bring some loving here today
It was really inspiring to see the number and variety of volunteers who came forward to help. Literally thousands of people assisted the Austin evacuees, many of them volunteering day after day. Those who assisted came from all walks of life, all kinds of socio-economic and religious backgrounds. Austin is home to many movie stars, sports hero’s, etc. and it was great to see them there working side by side with the rest of us, without a group of media focusing lots of attention on them. Sandra Bullock spent several days volunteering in the child care area, Michael Dell served ice cream treats to the children, Lance Armstrong assisted with the Red Cross, Willie Nelson held several benefit concerts, Matthew McCaugnahy brought in all the fixins and served up a huge fish fry for the evacuees. The Neville Brothers held a concert in the cafeteria, and the Spirit of the people seemed tremendously boosted by the sound of their hometown music. (Cyril Neville lost his home in the flood). There was one day when I was wheeling Miss Agnes across the floor of the sleeping area to the bathrooms which were about 100 yards away. I looked several rows over and saw Austin Mayor Will Wynn with his shirt sleeves rolled up, and he was wheeling an elderly man across the floor toward the cafeteria. We caught each other’s eyes for a second and smiled, acknowledging the fact that, in that moment, we were making a difference.
It seems as though spending time in that Convention Center has affected change in so many; evacuee and volunteer alike. I think it helped us to remember what is truly important and to make decisions from that place of knowing. Toward the end of our time at the Center, there was a day when several of the children were having wheelchair races in the large outer hallway. Nearby, there was a table where 3 elderly Red Cross volunteers were sitting, waiting to assist people in need. I noticed that one of the volunteers had a particularly disapproving and “sour” look on her face as she watched the children play. She got up and started to walk over to the children and I thought “sorry kids, the fun’s over.” The woman leaned down to talk to the kids and to my surprise, the fun had really just begun. I don’t know what that child said to her, but the next thing I knew, she was in the wheelchair and the little boy was pushing her wildly down the hall. Her face had transformed and she looked like an excited little kid herself. When I came back a few minutes later, all three volunteers were in wheelchairs being pushed in a crazy race by five boisterous kids. It was quite a joyful sight.
One of the evacuees that I’ve been working with most closely is Miss Patty. She is in her 50’s and has significant health problems. She had to wade through waist deep water to escape her neighborhood. She had a cast on one ankle, and while wading through the water, stepped on a nail that injured her “good” foot. Even though she was injured, she dragged her 85 year old uncle Jim through the water in a large Rubbermaid trash bucket. They made it to the New Orleans Convention Center where they thought they would find safety, but instead endured days of unimaginable hardship and horror. Through it all, Patty and Jim stayed together. Finally the busses came to their rescue. Somehow, in a moment of confusion, Uncle Jim and Patty got separated. She was very worried about Jim since he has a lot of health problems and also has significant dementia. When I met Patty she had been searching for Jim for 7 days. Every day we would check with the Red Cross “reunion” desk and have them search the database and every day we would be told “I’m sorry, we have misplaced him, we can’t help you.” Can you imagine how you would feel if you heard that about one of your family members? On the day that Patty was to leave the shelter she told me “Miss Lisa, I think that Uncle Jim is dead”. She followed that with “It’s ok though, he was a mean SOB and never said a kind word to me in the 10 years that I’ve been taking care of him”. Despite what she was saying, I could see the loving she had for him in her eyes. I think she was somehow attempting to ease the pain of her loss by discounting what he meant to her. While Patty went to another desk to process her exit paperwork, I went back to the reunion area and pleaded with someone to help me find him. We did all kinds of searches and eventually entered him into the database search system putting his last name first. Miraculously we found him. His name had been entered into the database “backwards”. He was here in Austin the entire time, at a local nursing home. He wasn’t able to tell them anything about his family, only that he was very worried about them and wanted to find them. When Patty was wheeled up to the reunion area, I was on the phone with the nursing home and had them put uncle Jim on the line. When she heard his voice she started crying and said “uncle Jim, I was so worried about you. I love you. I missed you so much.” She seemed to grow years younger in that moment as the stress and worry lifted from her. She told me then that she had been blaming herself for “losing” him. Later we talked about self-forgiveness, and I guided her through a little process that she says she has used several times since then. She said “I’m gonna remember what you told me about forgiving myself, it helps me to feel so much better about things.”
I met a family of people who had to wade through neck deep water to escape the flood. They talked to me about the “hero” in their family. This 16 year old girl was the only one in the family who could swim. As the younger children slipped under the water, she dove down and pulled them back up to safety. As the mother of this family of seven told the story she wept with gratitude for her precious “hero.” She finally turned around and said “here she comes now.” She must have noticed the surprise on my face when I realized that the girl walking up to us was white. This mother of six in a large African American family had “adopted” this girl when she was six years old. The little girl was the daughter of neighbors who had neglected her due to their overwhelming dependency on drugs. She had lived with them as a family member since then. The mother’s love for her child was obvious when she hugged the girl and told her how proud she was, and how she had saved all of their lives. The mother then turned to me and said “you see, it’s not the color of your skin that matters, it’s the love that you have in your heart.”
Such wisdom coming from those who have endured so much. I saw Latrell (the boy I talked about in my earlier post) and he was very excited about the fact that he will now have his own bedroom and will no longer have to share with his two brothers. He also reports that he likes his school and that “everything’s gonna be ok.” The Austin Convention Center is no longer housing evacuees. All of them have been moved to alternative housing. Many of us continue to work closely with the evacuees as they transition into their “new” lives. Much of our time is spent searching for furniture and household goods to furnish their apartments. We are also assisting them with connecting to all of the available social service agencies set up to help them. Probably the most important thing that we are doing is to love them. To listen and simply be with them as a sacred witness to their process.
More than anything, your continued love, Light and prayers are most appreciated. This will be an ongoing effort of healing and restoration. I am so grateful for my experiences in USM and MSIA as they have brought me to a place inside of myself where I can minister and serve so gracefully, and in each instance also grow stronger in myself and become even more fully centered in my own loving. I am so very grateful.
Love & Blessings,
Lisa
