Katrina - 'Searching for daughter, Anita' |
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September 28th, 2005 - 12:00AM |
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Lisa's mom, Betty (far left), with (from l. to r.) Anita, Jasmine and Kevin, evacuees from New Orleans who are staying with Lisa's parents in Church Point, Louisiana. Photo: Lisa David/International Rescue Committee Louisiana native Lisa David, now the IRC's regional refugee resettlement director in Dallas, traveled back to her home state to join an IRC team supporting local relief efforts for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Thursday, September 8 Drove down to Thibodaux today and visited two of the four shelter sites that are being housed on the Nicholls State University campus. Thibodaux is about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans, and aside from Baton Rouge is about as close as I’ve gotten to the severely impacted areas. The shelter population is a little less mobile than I’ve seen in the Lafayette area, and at the time of my visit has a high concentration of those being bussed directly out of New Orleans. Arriving at the first shelter building, I see an elderly man being led out of decontamination tent that has been set up in the parking lot for the new arrivals to shower in as they arrive. Shelter staff report that they are still getting evacuees coming directly out of New Orleans and that many are in “bad shape” – having survived in the aftermath for a week and a half now. Later in the evening as I am checking my office e-mail and trying to catch up on the news headlines, my father asks me to check for information on Anita’s father on a website while I am online. She has made countless calls, but has had no further luck tracking down her father and her concern and frustration are growing again. I check the website she had been referred to but have no luck. I decide to try a few other sites and finally come across a Yahoo! search engine that has been designed to search all of the Katrina databases that have been set up. I get a number of hits for her father’s name, but none of the other specifics match. Finally about halfway down the list, I follow a link that finally seems to produce a match. I find information on her father and there is a message, “Searching for daughter, Anita”. I can hardly believe it. I write down the contact information for him – it says he has been relocated to San Antonio and quickly tell Anita. She’s so nervous, she starts to shake but starts calling the contact number. I give her some privacy so that she can make the call. A while later, she comes to tell my parents and I that the shelter has confirmed that her father is there and they are getting him to a phone so he can call her back. There is another round of hugging and crying, but this time it is tears of joy. Posted By: Kathleen Sands | Hurricane Katrina Permalink |
