Sunday, June 17, 2007: Arrival and Impact
Our week in Biloxi officially began today as 14 faculty, staff, and alumni of Dartmouth College gathered in the Hands On-Gulf Coast headquarters. The building looks like a big open warehouse, but with a second-floor loft that rings the inside of the building. This leaves a big, 2-story open area in the middle for eating, relaxing, talking, reading, etc. There are about 100 bunk beds on the upper level where both short-term and long-term volunteers live.
This morning Jesse '06 and I visited two churches. At one, a Baptist church, we attended Bible Study Session with older, white locals. At the second, we attended a Gospel service full of singing, families, and black locals. Both churches were incredibly welcoming and were happy to have visitors and welcome us for a short portion of their morning. Both houses of God praised God's love, even in adversity--the first in an emphatic sermon, the second in an encouraging, proactive tone through song, prayer, and sermon.
After exploring the city by car for an hour in the afternoon, we returned to headquarters to meet with Mary-Pat and Tony, a local couple who, like so many, still live in a FEMA trailer. Like most of Biloxi's residents, they were completely trapped by the insurance companies who claimed that the cause of damage was whatever type of insure you did not have (if you had Flood, it was Wind, if you had Wind, it was Flood). Hurricane insurance, which everyone is required to have here, resulted in meager returns and Mary-Pat and Tony are struggling with renovation of one somewhat damaged structure on their property (a cottage/shed) and questioning rebuilding their completely demolished home. FEMA hasn't even officially set the rebuilding standards yet--they're only suggested that homes will not have to be 21 feet off the ground in some places.
These folks were lucky to have changed their mind and evacuated before it was too late.
I have two movie recommendations:
1. The Art of the Storm, about local artists who were connected with galleries in Minnesota to find a home to display their art; includes Mary-Pat.
2. When the Levees Broke, an intense but thoroughly articulated and explained documentary about the chronology and major themes of this natural disaster in New Orleans (i.e. federal failure to respond appropriately until 5 days after); by Spike Lee
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