Finding the Way Home: Two Years After Katrina

by Brenda Ann Kenneally

Tatum: My name is Tatum, and I live in Mississippi, Picayune and um my name is Tatum.

I went to the shelter because Hurricane Katrina washed away our houses.

I lost in the storm my little kid microwave that I used to have with the little light ball. And I lost most of my little ladders, my little toys, my little ponies.

Shane Reis: My name is Shane. I am 7 years old.

Since the storm I lived in a FEMA trailer.

I don't like the FEMA trailer because it's boring and there's nothing to do.

I used to have a lot of toys, now I don't.

I do for fun now, ride my scooter and play with my toys that I have.

My life is different cause I don't see my friends no more.

Ruberts Family

Michael: FEMA give us $10,000 to do everything. You know, to fix the roof, jack the house up, you know, replace the stuff that got ruined, you know. That didn't even, that didn't even really put a scratch in it.

Probably going to cost me about another $15,000 to get everything fixed.

We depend a lot of times on my side jobs for extra money and everything. Because after Uncle Sam dips his hand in our pockets you don't have enough to pay the bills.

It's going to take me a little while fixing my house back up so we can get back in it. But, you know, the only thing that matters is that we're happy. We're happy and we're still together.

Angie: I've been back here in the house for two weeks.

Michael: We've have everything we need. We got a house full of love. We got four beautiful kids. A beautiful wife. We don't have the best place in the world but it's ours.

Angie: Michael got this for me for Valentine's this year. Don't ask me how many years we been together for Valentine's 'cause I couldn't tell you.

Michael: Whatever she wants, she gets. That's my choice. She can just throw a hint out, "Oh baby, I would love to have something like this." She's going to get it. It might take me a week or two but she's going to get it. You know, I don't have to do that. But I choose to because I love her.

Since Katrina I've had three jobs.

Angie: Four.

Michael: Three. Trinity, Ray's, well, four. Yeah, four.

I haven't really been making that much money, been struggling real hard. I can't land any good side jobs and can't land a good regular job. I got a job but...

Angie: It's not paying enough.

Michael: It's not paying enough, and I don't work every day.

I need a beer.

I work from 7:30 to 5:30 and come home and basically do this.

Right after the storm we didn't get a gas bill for like three months. And when we got our gas bill they sent us one big, one, one huge gas bill and they told us we had to pay it all in full or they were going to turn the gas off so we just told them to turn the son of a bitch off. 'Cause there was no way I could come up with $800.

That didn't cost me nothing. I just took it from the shop.

When they turned the gas off we had to heat our house up with a construction site gas heater that I had that ran off of propane. Five gallons would last about...

Angie: Three days.

Michael: Six hours.

Fuckin' schools.

Angie: It's ridiculous.

Michael: They want five dollars for this, five dollars for that, ten dollars for this, ten dollars for that, eight dollars for this, eight dollars for that. It's driving me fucking crazy.

Angie: Well honey, we have 18 more years left.

Michael: I'll be glad when they get a job and do it theirselves.

It might not look good but it damn sure tastes good.

Is it hot?

Michael Jr.: Mhmmm.

Michael: Blow it.

Michael Jr.: I did.

Michael: Woman get your ass over here and wash these damn dishes.

I deserve sex tonight.

Angie: Oh you do, huh? We'll see. You might get it. He'll probably get it.

Michael: Thank you for the reindeer food. You kids were real good this year. I hope you keep up the good work. I'll see you next year. Love always, Santa.

Angie: You know what? You know what?

Michaela: What?

Angie: So does mama.

Angel: I'm keeping it!

Angel: Hey!

Michaela: That's mine.

Angel: Nuh Uh. I got the blonde head.

Michaela: Oh.

Angel: Meanie.

Angie: Make it light up, Mike.

Austin: Thank you, mommy. Thank you, daddy.

Angie and Michael: You're welcome.

Angie: I got to regenerate.

Michael: I would wish that I was a little bit better off than what I am now. I don't mind struggling. You know, struggling just builds up, you know, builds your character up, makes you strong and all, but I just wish I didn't have to struggle so hard. See right, right now I'm at the, I'm at the edge, you know. We can lose everything we got tomorrow and we wouldn't have nowhere to go. And that's just, you know, the chance we've got to take.

Finding the Way Home - Additional Stories

The Foray Family

Wade: My name is Wade Foray and we're living in a tin can. Lost everything to the storm.

We've been living here right about eight months and it's just like we're not going nowhere.

To me it's like a FEMA prison.

Right before Katrina I was about to buy a house. We both was working and we was doing real good. It seems like every time we climb up we always get right back down.

Our plan for the future is to save money and try to buy a house. Maybe if someone will help us out.

All these people that got millions and millions of dollars, can't build me a home for $20,000? All we looking for is somewhere where we can raise our children and do right.

Won't somebody to reach out and touch me, you know? I mean I got two children and a wife. I'm doing just as bad as these people in Arabia and all.

It's not like we not trying. My wife works a 12-hour shift. Every day then comes home, cooks, cleans, and tries to watch over my children and the same thing goes for me.

I could easily get out there and go sell drugs. But that's not what I want. I got two children. They need their father.

I'm trying to do right and don't touch no drugs. But I got people knocking on my door, it's like, you know, if you keep on, on knocking on the devil's door, somebody is going to answer, you know. And that's how it feels.

Another hurricane come, I don't know what we will do. Sometimes I wish it had just take us with it because we in the gutter anyway.

The Blanks Family

Natichia: My name is Natichia Blanks. I'm 28. I live here in the Renaissance Village Trailer Park in Baker, Louisiana.

I stay here with my three kids. My oldest, Yajaira, she's 10, Keree, he's six and

Keree: Seven, Seven.

Natichia: Kel'lis is two.

Keree: I'm seven.

Natichia: Well he made his seventh.

Me and my kids have been here for 9 months. They are devastated because we're living in a trailer.

It's just hard to explain because it's just a totally different atmosphere than what they are used to.

Yajaira: I have no space. I have nowhere to play, nothing to do around here.

Natichia: From the news, the pictures, all the magazine articles, my kids are just getting this overview that the world sees that everyone from New Orleans was poor, no education, you know, don't know anything. But they know that that's not true, so it's confusing to them.

Me and my kids, we was a middle class family. We stayed in a great neighborhood. It was just the normal perfect life.

And now where we are, it's like now we are poor, now we are low class.

We've been uprooted and we're just like here. It's just like starting all over again.

The Lemoine Family

Kesha: My name is Kesha Lemoine. I have three children. John Klora, he's 12, Alyssa Lemoine who is 9, and Drew Lemoine who is 8.

I used to live at 4425 Ponchartrain Drive, Slidell, Louisiana until Hurricane Katrina took it all away.

Alyssa: My room was right there.

I'm mad. Very, very, very mad.

Kesha: They said because I didn't own the house that I lived in and because I only rented from my grandmother, I couldn't get a FEMA trailer.

And we was living in a car for a while, and when we had money to stay in a motel we stayed in a motel.

We was paying approximately between $70 and $90 a night. And my fiance was working every day to pay for it.

A daily routine was getting put out at 11 and when we would leave we put it all back in the car.

And you can't go back till we had the money to pay for it when he got off work.

We just went and sat at the park, went by a friend's house, stayed in the car, did whatever we had to.

Alyssa: Being homeless was the worst part of Katrina because we didn't have like a place to go.

Kesha: The hardest thing with the kids is they're not their normal self. They're acting out a lot more than what they used to.

I finally found a place to stay that we can afford. We're staying in a three-bedroom trailer that's big enough for everybody to run around and do what they want.

Alyssa: When Katrina hit we had to leave. The house got tooken away. All my stuff got tooken away, my collectibles, my ball. And it was miserable.

Kesha: I moved approximately 8 to 10 times since Katrina.

So far I haven't been reimbursed for my motel bills. They have not given me any more rental assistance. It doesn't matter how many times I call them, they're just not helping at all.

The Butler Family

Theresa Butler: I've been living in an abandoned apartment for four months.

It's hard that you got us staying in something that looks so raggily where roaches, rats and spiders.

Now I was scared that my baby was going to catch something.

I be worried sometime when I be sleeping up in here because I don't really supposed to be in this apartment.

I want to learn responsibility on my own now.

It's just really hard and painful because I have a 3-year-old and I'm going on 19 years old.

I had to survive for me and my baby.

Long as I keep my head up and know that the Lord is on my side, know he will put me somewhere if I just believe but it's really hard right now if you don't have nowhere to go.

The Gaughf Family

Kimberley: My name is Kimberley Jean Gaughf. This is Alexander Lee Gaughf and over there is Landon Alan Gaughf.

We had neighbors in the FEMA trailer park that we were in that use to smoke the crack and they were selling their drugs. People would come in and out so quick that I was afraid to let my boys go outside and play.

The apartment where we lived, we didn't have that problem. It was a nice quiet apartment complex. Everybody pretty much stayed to themselves in there.

Landon: This is the side of our trailer.

Alexander: This is the side of our trailer.

Landon: This is our toys.

Alexander: Yeah.

Kimberly: This is kind of a play area for them.

Landon: Yeah. And this is where the slip n' slide goes.

Alexander: And this is our bikes. And my brother broke both of my tires.

Kimberley: I feel a lot less stressed because I don't have to worry about what my neighbors are doing. The boys can actually go outside and play and do their thing and be wild and be boys. And I really don't have to worry about them too much.

Landon: Oohh. Get off me you little fella.

Alexander: Mmm. I kissed his butt.

Kimberley: The time limit FEMA has given everybody to find something is 18 months.

They say January-February is when they're going to start basically kicking people out of the FEMA trailer so they can find other apartments and stuff.

Since I'm on a piece of property and trying to build on the property, they said they are going to allow us to stay here a little bit longer.

Overall I'm going to be a lot better than I was before the storm.