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October 25, 2005
Alumnus shares perspective on continuing Katrina reconstruction
Student activists met last week with Hamline Alumnus Doug Anderson, former resident of New Orleans, to discuss the next steps in the process of rebuilding the city and helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Anderson, who graduated from Hamline in 1995, discussed what the people of New Orleans are doing now with the rebuilding, as well as the parts that social injustice and inequities play in the rebuilding process. Anderson said that it is “so easy to lose focus” on what can be done, due to distractions and other political events currently taking place. The point of the gathering was to keep this focus and to continue to aid the reconstruction process.
Schools affected by Katrina have to deal with rebuilding and the problems with funds caused by their unequal distribution by FEMA. Anderson said that many schools in the area were already operating on donations due to preexisting poverty, adding that this situation places them even farther behind.
Literacy is also a problem in New Orleans, where forty-percent of adults read below the fifth-grade level.
Some activists were upset that the only establishments that have re-opened in New Orleans thus far were five-star restaurants and hotels.
Others commented on the “intention compared to [the] results” produced by the government during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Some were upset that no one took accountability for the poor evacuation.
Diana Knobel, a Hamline midway neighbor, went down to Biloxi, Mississippi to help distribute supplies collected by organizations like The Red Cross with a Mission from Minnesota group.
Knobel said the “environmental implications” caused by Katrina are also an issue. All clothing and wood must be destroyed because it is too expensive to have it properly sanitized. There are refrigerators that remain duct-taped shut, still sitting in the streets, due to the lack of electricity that has gone on for over six weeks, creating additional health hazards.
Although Katrina was a tragedy, Knobel said “amazing stuff [is] happening” as people come together to help.
Sharon Jaffe said that there will be trips down to the coast area. A spring break trip is already in the works; applications are due by December 14. They hope to get students to the gulf coast by the second week in
January as well. A course entitled Sociology of Disaster will also be offered during J-term by Melissa Embser-Herbert.
To pick up applications for volunteer work, visit http://www.hamline.edu/oslv and click on “student service learning.” To see what the Mission from Minnesota group has done and is currently doing, go to http://www.missionfromminnesota.com.
Posted by msveum at October 25, 2005 12:46 AM
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