Rebirth

Note: This post is being put up a day later than intended, due to my town not having electricity the entire afternoon, keeping me from finishing and posting on time. I am leaving the date-specific references as they were because I feel they are relevant to the sentiments expressed in this post.

  Today is August 29. While that date may not be super meaningful for everyone, for those of us with a connection to New Orleans, especially a connection formed around or shortly after 2005, that date means quite a bit. Now, I'm sure most of you figured out what that date means, now that I've given you a year and city as a reference point. August 29 is the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall. Now, before I go on, I want to clarify that I was not in New Orleans at the time of the storm. In fact, I hadn't even begun applying to colleges yet, and wouldn't for about another year. However, that storm directly brought me to New Orleans and played an impact on my life going forward.

  However, my purpose in this post is not to talk about me, though I will inevitably end up connecting this back to my service later. I just felt a bit homesick after seeing some friends back home posting articles in remembrance of the storm. So, before I go on, I would advise you to make your way to Nola.com for some excellent coverage. It may no longer be a daily, but the Times-Pic, in my opinion, remains one of the better local newspapers. There are two articles in particular I would like to direct you to. The first is a collection of photos by Ted Jackson. They depict the destruction left by Katrina, but if you click on the photos and drag your mouse across, you will see the photos change to more or less the exact same shot, 9 years later. One of the best views of the visual representations of the city's rebirth since Steve Gleason blocked that punt on Monday Night Football (or the Saints Super Bowl title a few years later). And while none of pictures depicts homes I worked on, I can't help but feel a sense of pride seeing the changes, knowing I, along with millions of other people who picked up hammers and pry bars and paint buckets, played a big part in that. Another article discusses the way people have preserved or memorialized their "Katrina X" on their homes, which, when juxtaposed with repaired homes, serve as "tattoos" to remind people that while the city may be rebuilt, it has also been changed and the impacts linger on. For a fuller coverage, here is the link.

  However, I'm not here to simply share other people's work with you. After all, if you're interested, you've probably seen some of these yourself. However, on the anniversary of Katrina, I was trying to explain the recovery to my colleagues this morning, and I shared that Steve Gleason link, though I'll admit, while the photos of the damage the flooding and the "then and now" link made an impression the football play kind of missed it's mark with them. In my case, though, it got me thinking. It got me thinking about activism. Steve Gleason's career ended not long after that block, in part at least, because of his having ALS, which has been getting a lot of press lately, in case you live under a rock. The Ice Bucket Challenge is the latest national activism campaign to go viral (granted, unlike many of its predecessors, like the infamous #Kony2012, which I often use as an example of a bad campaign, actually includes people doing something that might help by donating money). A number of charity and issue awareness campaigns go viral these days, especially with Facebook and Twitter giving such an easy forum. Peer pressure tends to make these appealing. They're also very easy to participate in, feel like you've made a meaningful difference, and not have to do too much work on your own.

  Likewise, after Hurricane Katrina, millions of people donated money to help New Orleans rebuild. Some even took time to come down and help build homes, pass out food and water, or help out in other ways. Like viral campaigns, major natural disasters get a lot of attention, and, as a result, a lot of donations. Once again, it's easy. SMS something to a specific number, and your phone will be charged a donation to the Red Cross. It makes people feel good. Their money goes towards helping people. While I could go and enter into a very negative discussion about the issues and downsides of contributing to campaigns like these, I won't. If you want my opinions, we can talk privately (see my contact info on this blog). However, this post is about rebirth. With that in mind, I want to keep things more positive and optimistic,

  No, I'm not going to criticize national campaigns. They do help a wide number of people. However, national campaigns also tend not to be the most efficient way to help people. After all, they have more operational costs as they deal with PR issues, legal issues, and trying to support operations nationwide. People often forget there are a lot of people in their own communities in need of help. Donating a few dollars is easy. However, you don't have any say what the organization does with the money. Does it go towards researching new treatments? Or, does it go towards support network for those suffering from ALS? Or, something else? In the case of Katrina, does it go towards buying food? Building homes? The clustf*** of organizations often making each other redundant and getting in each others' ways? It takes a lot more work, but actually taking some time and looking up what research is being done by who and what support networks are out there, etc. goes a lot further, as you now exactly where the money is going. And, while I picked up a hammer and helped build homes in New Orleans, the truth is, we often forget in times of disaster that there are people in our own towns who need food and homes, and your time will go just as far as it does in disaster zones, and you save on gas. Not to say you shouldn't donate to national charities. Just don't forget your own back yard.

  Another common thread between Katrina and the Ice Bucket Challenge and other viral campaigns is "Katrina fatigue." People are quickly tiring of the Ice Bucket Challenge, quickly tiring of the videos, and with it has been a rise in articles criticizing the Challenge, questioning if the money is actually going towards things, or if ALS really deserves the attention. Withing days, #Kony2012 was being mocked mercilessly (and I'd admit taking part, especially since it was juxtaposed with all the Obama2012/Romney2012 campaigns). With natural disasters, donations quickly slow down. While everyone expressed sorrow after Katrina, pretty soon, people were asking whether the city was worth bringing back. After all, wouldn't this happen again? Couldn't the money be spent better? What about the corruption/crime/poverty? Couldn't Katrina be a sign from God trying to wash away a city so full of excesses and sin? Sure, for a few months, the donations were rolling in. For a few years people were coming down to help. Now, when I say New Orleans is still being rebuilt, they ask how that can be the case, almost a decade later. Corruption played a part, as did controversial (to be nice) insurance programs. But the real thing is that after a while, people stopped caring and fewer and fewer volunteers were coming down. People were finally getting some money to start rebuilding homes, but suddenly they'd lost the people who were going to provide the labor at the prices they could afford. This year, I chose to look how it was being covered in the DC area. Surely, a paper as large as The Washington Post would have something. Well, they did. A small blurb in an "on this day in history" article and a picture of A-1 from August 30. Which was more than The Washington Times included. In fact, very few national news sources made note of it (next year being a big, round tenth anniversary might be different, but compare that to the annual articles and commemorations around the country of 9/11). Despite the fact that Joseph Kony has yet to be brought to justice and the conflicts still exist in Uganda, it's largely disappeared from the media (both mainstream and social). It'll be interesting to see whether the donations for ALS charities continue next year and down the road. Which, again, comes back to helping out in your own back yard. National charities are great for getting attention and donations quickly, but grass roots activism tends to produced sustained support. After all, how long are people in Wyoming really going to stay interested in a conflict in Uganda which has already been going on for years? It's too far away for them to feel connected, and they aren't seeing immediate results. And that's the key. People want to see immediate results. Sure, seeing a house go up in New Orleans provides a measure of immediate visible results. And then you're told that house is merely a drop in the recovery bucket. People get discouraged, doubting if their donations and concern are making a difference. The way to overcome this is for the people to have a real connection to the cause. Many people who are giving in response to the Ice Bucket Challenge also have a list of charities and causes they donate to every year. These causes get their money without a viral campaign, largely because the person donating has a personal stake; a relative who suffered from/died from a certain disease, a friend who lived in that disaster area, a connection to a school, etc. That's why it's so important to get involved in your own back yard. Because that homeless man you served soup to, he's the same guy who maybe bags your groceries or danced with you at Mardi Gras or whatever. Or maybe he's the guy who out of desperation might end up breaking into your home. Or maybe you simply have the bond of cheering for the same football team on Sunday. Maybe you have no bond, but realize by helping those in need in your community, you can help property values go up. Or any of the other many reasons. The point is, when the problem is in your back yard, rather than several states away, you're more likely to have a connection, and more likely to make helping the cause a regular thing, rather than a one-shot deal and an issue you'll tire of hearing about next month. Just something to consider.

  Of course, for some people, the rebuilding of New Orleans IS in their back yard. One thing I loved about Tulane is that every year, the school commemorates Katrina with Outreach Tulane. It's Tulane's biggest day of community service (unless you count MLK Day, which I don't, since those numbers include Xavier and Loyola and Dillard, not just Tulane). For all the criticism Tulane has taken from the community (especially from those living on or near Broadway or the new stadium), Tulane has certainly made rebuilding the city very personal, even offering masters programs in disaster response/preparedness (I'll admit, I don't know the exact program, having heard of it from a friend applying, rather than looking into it myself). And it does show in the activism and volunteerism of many graduates. I am friends with another PCV from Tulane, and there are many more I don't know, as well as a large number of AmeriCorps and TFA volunteers, as well as students who find time on weekends or after work. Now, obviously, not everyone adopts this volunteerism spirit, but it certainly is something the school emphasizes, and is a direct response to Hurricane Katina.

  The rebuilding of New Orleans in an ongoing process. New Orleans will never be exactly what it was before the storm, but it certainly has risen from the destruction. And I see parallels to Namibia. Namibia may not have suffered from a hurricane, it has suffered from issues caused by weather, including a recent brutal and deadly drought. Race tensions are also present in both (I won't go too much into that, as I have a whole post comparing Namibia to New Orleans). And there are a lot of issues needing to be addressed in both, from poverty and homelessness to drug and alcohol abuse to high unemployment to struggling education systems. The issues facing New Orleans and Khorixas has given me and opportunity to share a bit of my home with Namibians and also gotten me thinking. However, on this day, I also want to take a moment to remember the death, the destruction, and the suffering that afflicted a city so dear to my heart and which would play a huge part in my life, probably more than I can really comprehend so far. And after taking a moment to remember all that, I smile, put on some New Orleans music, and take comfort in the knowledge that the effort of so many people not only can make a difference, but has made a difference. And, so long as there are people willing to donate their time and their energy (and yes, their money) to causes they feel worthy, as cynical as I may be sometimes, there will always remain at least some degree of faith in humanity and hope for the world.