My dear mom Nancy lost her home in Hurricane Ida. She lives in Terrebone Parish (google “Cancer Alley”) south of Houma close to Dulac, Louisiana. She is now faced with the long and arduous process of rebuilding her life again in the aftermath of this disaster, exactly 16 years after evacuating my family to a shelter in Natchitoches to escape the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. When I was a high school junior, we left our childhood home off Barataria Blvd south of New Orleans on the border of our beautiful Jean Lafitte National Park & Preserve, and it was a long time before we were able to return.
The grief that followed Hurricane Katrina eventually led to the divorce of my parents and my family has suffered residual effects of that trauma to this day. It is hard to convey the full scope of my experience here, but the impacts on my family and community have been financially, emotionally and psychologically catastophic. Last year, in late April 2020 and at the start of the pandemic, my brother and only sibling died of an opiate overdose. He battled addiction and mental illness all of his life, and some of his hardest years came in the aftermath of that hurricane. The disaster is lifelong.
My mom has been unemployed since the death of my brother and will not be returning to work as she is almost 70 now. She has health complications and I've watched her suffer debilitating mental illness all my life. Her health has been quickly deteriorating since the start of the pandemic and through the grief of the loss of her son and now the loss of her home. She doesn’t have the money or wherewithal to evacuate now to a safer place like many people have. She is in Louisiana without power, water, in the heat and humidity and my texts to her aren’t delivering as I type this.
She doesn’t have access to the internet and even if she did, she wouldn’t know where to start in order to ask for relief. I have been filling out paperwork for her in hopes she will receive some assistance, but there is no telling if or when she will. I will be taking some time off of work at Saddle Creek to focus on helping her get back on her feet. I have little money to help with this myself, and I’m still digging myself out of the debts I’ve incurred just to make it to Los Angeles almost a decade ago in an attempt to build a better life for myself. This is when I ask you to help me. I’ve never been good at this. All funds donated will be used to provide immediate, basic necessities for my mom to survive the following month of dire hardship she’s faced with. Once power & water are restored, I will work to find a small apartment for her in a safer area, away from Cancer Alley, closer to New Orleans where I can more easily visit her. Maybe somewhere with some natural light for once. I will be spending time at home to help physically rehouse her and I will share the progress with everyone when I have the capacity to do so. There is so much more she’s been going through, but I think I’ve said enough. As her only living child, the weight of this all has been so much to bear and it's time that I ask for help.
There is a lot going on in the world right now and many things that deserve your attention. We are living in a time that feels so heavy and dystopian, but I believe in the power of community. I’ve seen it, felt it, been a part of it. I know we can get through this together.
___________
amber carew
saddle creek