Pearlington--6 months post Katrina

The following is posted on behalf of Angela Cole and the people of Pearlington, MS

Greetings once more from Pearlington, Mississippi, the tiny hamlet that was virtually wiped off the map on August 29, 2005. Approximately 700 of the 1,700 residents that called Pearlington home prior to Hurricane Katrina have returned to try and scratch-out an existence in the thick, black, toxic muck. My choice of words is deliberate. They are not "rebuilding" for the government responsible for these citizens has revealed no plan for restoring the infrastructure - the framework - around which their community and their lives were built before. No childrens' hurried footsteps reverberate throughout the moldy, buckled hallways of the little school as they try to make-it to class on time. Instead, there is the sound of the big, yellow bus as it pulls from the yard of the ruined school every day to take the children an hour from their homes to school in Kiln, MS. When they return late in the afternoon, they can not run to the corner grocery store to buy a Coke or a bag of M&Ms; their parents can not stock their tiny FEMA trailer refrigerators with milk or eggs. Where the two general stores once stood are still two piles of moldly debris. In Pearlington, MS - some 6 months after Hurricane Katrina made her presence known for eternity - not one store, school, bank, or gas station is in the process of returning. And, so, the people of Pearlington live their lives in limbo, not knowing when - or even if - their tiny community will return.

While they wait, the seasons come and go and the colors of the day shift. The putrid, standing water of 6 months ago has turned from a murkish brown to an almost fluorescent green. The piles of debris have turned from a soggy grey to a hardened black; and the hard, grey dirt has deepened into a thick, slick, oily black-ice. And, the smell of raw sewage permiates the outside air and the inside water flowing from many of the faucets. Old, ruined homes almost lean against tiny FEMA trailers - the plots too small to handle both the old house and the new travel trailer. So, the view from all sides is destruction and decay. Four, five, sometimes more people exist in these trailers. While the government is glaringly absent, the volunteers are not. Due to recent media attention, many have found their way to Pearlington. Each group, religious or secular, has its specific mission. One builds wooden storage sheds so people can store their clothing and other belongings (there is no closet or storage space in a FEMA trailer); another builds 1-bedroom bungalow cottages; another bull-dozes ruined houses. It sounds great and the dedication of these volunteers is real. However, there is no coordination among the hundreds of well-meaning, but un-guided worker bees buzzing around Pearlington. The 1-bedroom bungalows are barely bigger than the FEMA trailers and are not a solution for families. They are yet another temporary stop-over on the way to a destination as yet unknown. The bulldozers lumbering down the narrow, 2-lane roads are imposing and the mountains of wood and metal they leave behind are impressive; yet, they do not have the capacity to move those very mountains beyond the edge of the yard. And, so, they litter the landscape with remnants of former shelter - of former hope.

Hope is hard to come-by these days in Pearlington, MS. That's not to say that folks have stopped functioning. It's worse than that. They have started accepting this way of life as all they can expect - as all they deserve. A quiet resolution has set-in. Those with little wooden storage sheds have begun to fill them with donated clothes and even donated washers and dryers. They have taken the tents that housed them for 3 months or more and converted them into dining and family rooms as though this is just how normal families live. The dancing flames of bonfires dot the landscape each evening as families and neighbors gather for company and warmth - outside, for the FEMA trailers are too tiny for a family dinner or gathering. People talk about the necessity of staying outside as much as possible to avoid the "walls closing-in." The Red Cross is gone now; no more meals are served. The "Distribution Center" is about to close. Corrupt though it was, it was a symbol of something tangible in terms of relief. When the Red Cross was pulling-out, the representative was asked why they were leaving. His response was, as follows: "Well, pretty much everyone has their FEMA trailers now, so they can cook for themselves." There are very, very few jobs in Hancock County at all. The heat and stove in the FEMA trailers are powered by propane tanks. It costs approximately $22 to re-fill a tank. Families are running-through 2-4 tanks per week to feed their children and keep them warm. Conservatively, that's almost $200/month for propane alone. That does not even factor-in electricity or food or other basic supplies. Yes, there is a stove in each and every FEMA trailer; but, you must be able to afford the propane to power it and food to put in it. Many of the elderly just go without.

While no longer "forgotten" by the outside world, the people of Pearlington remain completely abandoned by anyone in authority who could make a plan or give them answers. And so, I and CNN press-on. The questions that hang over every day are quite simply: Why is Pearlington, MS being ignored? Why is there no plan in place for these people? If there is not going to be a plan, why are they not being told this and re-located appropriately? CNN is beginning to ask some hard questions and is committed to doing so until answers emerge. Please watch the 2nd CNN segment about Pearlington, MS on "American Morning" with Soledad O'Brien on Tuesday, Feb. 28th. The show runs from 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM EST. I do not yet know the timeframe for the segment, but the last one ran in the 8:00 hour. For this one, Soledad O'Brien herself came to Pearlington. True to her word at the end of the Christmas piece, she came to do the follow-up.
Yesterday, wonderful volunteers from Cincinnati drove down with a van loaded with food for the people of Pearlington. I went around to some of the FEMA trailers and asked folks what they needed. One woman looked at me and said, somewhat perplexed, "We don't need anything. You know, we can make do. Things aren't so dire anymore." Her moldy, ruined house is practically leaning-against her cramped FEMA "travel trailer;" her grandchildren play outside in the green, contaminated standing water; her donated washer and dryer can only be accessed by going outside and into a leaky, wooden shed; and she has to go 20 miles in any direction to even buy a carton of milk. She has lived, worked, and paid taxes in Pearlington for over 40 years; and yet, only 6 months after the worst disaster to hit the United States, she has resigned herself to a new normal of squalor and deprivation. On August 29th of 2005, her world shrank along with her expectations. And, that is why we must persist. We must hold those in authority accountable for their inaction; and, we must persist until we have answers on behalf of those who can not ask the questions for themselves. Those of us "out in the world" can not allow our expectations to shrink. We must hold the hope for those who are too weary to do so for themselves. We must and I know we will.

Thank you for your continued interest in the people of Pearlington, MS. Photos will follow in the next couple of days; and, of course, you can see much of the conditions on CNN February 28th.
Continuing in Peace and Justice,
Angela J. Cole, MPH, RN