George Barich, George’s Message from Houston, Texas

George’s Message from Houston, Texas, 9-4-05

The hurricane relief effort is becoming a life changing event for me. For someone who RARELY is a loss for words, I have met my match, and her name is Katrina !	View Picture
View Picture	I am almost at a loss for words but I am going to try to offer a few. I don't know where to start, but I will try. I will dispense with the sorted details of my trip for the moment and say that I am rested and in a hotel lobby across the street from the relief center getting this email out before having breakfast and heading back to one of the hurricane relief centers that I have been assigned to in Houston, Texas, the George Brown Convention Center.
Last evening, I showed up at the relief center, signed in, and they immediately put me to work. It was well organized and a testament of this country's resolve to answer the call for help.	View Picture
View Picture	My first assignment was to bring bags of ice to different areas of the center in need. Semi trucks were parked outside and we unloaded ice and delivered ice to food servers, medical unit, and volunteer rest areas. I also restocked water supplies, moved boxes of clothes, and made beds for incoming victims during the night. The buses of victims continued to arrive sporadically through the night. During the night shift, things had slowed down to the chaos of the influx of arrivals during the day, as I was told. I heard it had been a mad house with activity earlier in the day. During my shift, lines of cars pulled up front of the convention center, even in the dark of night , dropping off clothing and other supplies from people's homes. Piles of stuffed animals, toys, shoes, diapers, etc. were separated by volunteers while refugees shopped the isles of stuff for what they needed before bedding down for the night. The lights in the convention center were on all night which I thought was odd. I don't know how these people slept in the bright lights, but many did. The lights were on for everyone's safety, I presume.
I spent the early morning hours helping evacuees with taking their first shower in a week. They were given everything they needed and it was well organized. The showers were divided between a men's area of about twenty portable showers, and the women's section. Along with other men, we cleaned the showers after each use, picked up and threw away their old clothes, and discarded the towels and soap wrappers, shampoos, etc. Yes, we wore gloves. We then disinfected each shower stall for the next person in line. The system is far from perfect, but still wonderful. Indoor carpet was used outside each shower stall to cover the hard cement floor. It was not long before the carpet was saturated with water after each use of the shower stall. So, it was impossible to prevent the germs from transferring in an out of the shower areas with indoor carpet, but today, I hope we can address the issue, if at all. People have to step on this area before getting into fresh clothes and shoes or before getting ready for bed. In all, it is a working as well as can be expected given the circumstances. I was exhausted and my back began to hurt after having left Sonoma County at 3:30AM the morning before and working on the hard floor all night. My back is a little sore today, but it will be fine. Also, when I walked outside the airport upon arrival to get my rent-a-car, the heat and humidity almost knocked me over. It is unbelievable down here. I am a spoiled Northern California boy. This is something to get used to. The air is so heavy, I didn't think I could take it or breathe for very long. How do these people do it?	View Picture
View Picture	There are so many stories I hope to share with you at a later time. I met this one guy, 45 going on 65 at the looks of him, who was in a wheel chair with his feet in the air all bandaged from being cut up after pushing a shopping cart with a neighbor woman in the cart for miles before reaching the Superdome in New Orleans. To make this short, we bonded quickly and he began to tell me the real horror of the Superdome. As a local white man who lived among his black neighbors in a poor neighborhood, what he witnessed at the Superdome and what he experienced in the days waiting to be rescued from what he explained was nothing short of hell on earth.
I was hypnotized by his account of what happened and his personal account I hope to share more with you later. The media has failed to report that the Superdome was an "alcohol fortress" and an intoxicated mess of individuals. Gang violence is an understatement. Guns and ammunition was stolen from Wal-Mart's, as well as police vehicles. The police were outgunned for the first few days. He fears that the police officers that were overpowered and shot may not been reported to the media for national security reasons and may not be announced for a long time in an effort to avoid the rumor of mob rule.	View Picture
View Picture	Entire areas of the Superdome were stocked with stolen alcohol from liquor stores, bars, hotels, hotel rooms ( mini-bars) and delivery trucks. Many of the men in the Superdome were surviving on liquor and it was a war zone. He survived by surrounding himself with people who knew and shared mutual respect gained over many years. According to him, many women were raped and may never be seen again, or will wash up weeks from now when the water is pumped out of the city. His account was almost too much for me to handle. I tried to keep my composure for this was a tough guy, and I needed him to trust that I could keep our conversation in confidence.
Just like after 9/11, he tells me that the truth of what really happened will slowly come out once the public is capable of really handling the truth. He says there were unthinkable acts of both crime, and compassion in the aftermath of the storm. I was talking to the real deal. He admitted to a living in a "cash society" of drugs and poverty in his area of town. He weathered the storm and had supplies in his attic that he survived on for the first few days. He said his neighbors did not have the foresight or the resources to store what was needed because many were dependant on the government for everything, or lived a life of crime to survive. Others, he said, did not have a car or truck to leave even if they had the gas money to do so, and many were not in any state of health to start walking. They were doomed by what he says is a life of dependency on the state for everything and by a system that has taught them how to make the welfare systems work for them so they don't have to work at all. He said this is a culture that has been passed down through three or more generations. "The more kids, the better..." he said. He and I talked for a half hour and there is much more.	View Picture
View Picture	One of my friends in San Francisco is helping me update my personal website that I have done nothing with in many months where I will post my photos of my efforts here. I will also attempt to work with the Red Cross to possibly volunteer as a driver to help relocate victims to California who may wish to relocate there, if at all. In the meantime, please communicate with the Red Cross along with other agencies and churches to discuss what you may be able to offer anyone wishing to make Northern California their new home. Together, we can each try to combine our talents and resources to make miracles happen.
Thank you to all my friends and colleagues who have given your thoughts of love and support who have families and responsibilities of your own that made it virtually impossible to join me this mission. I can't imaging where this will all end. It's beyond my comprehension, and I am often brought to tears. I can only hope and pray that I am replaced with other Americans who will follow in my footsteps. Thank you also to the deputy sheriff who helped me find my way out of the downtown area to a motel I could afford. It was fine.
I thank God that I am in a financial position at this moment in my life to have been able to lend a helping hand in some small way. I have not decided when I am coming home and will update you on that later. At your leisure, see www.georgebarich.com for more of my trip here in Houston. And thank you to that my good friend Gregory Kucharski who is updating my little website for me so I don't have to. This has been as much of a wake up call for me as I hope it has been for you. George Barich	View Picture