St. Bernard Parish
Arabi
by Carrye Castleman-Ross
1.15.06
Greetings from what my friend Katherine Pangaro calls “the Toxic Swamp.” Trying to put on paper what I've seen and done in the past 12 days is a challenge but one I have to at least attempt because you can't begin to imagine what it's like down here, and I don't really think the true scope of this ongoing, endless disaster is getting out there.
After my return to Maine from doing Damage Assessment I couldn't shake the feeling that I had more to contribute in Louisiana, and wanted to find a more direct community outreach opportunity. Through my Red Cross liaison I heard of “Emergency Communities,” a grassroots, non-political, non-denominational and non-bureaucratic group of volunteers committed to providing three hot, wholesome meals a day to displaced residents in Arabi, the area straddling the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish. It sounded like exactly what I was looking for, but I'd never have guessed that what is happening here would so immediately and profoundly change my life.
Being in New Orleans “After the Flood” is like being punched in the face by someone who then turns around and hands you a bouquet of flowers. One minute the heartbreak of endless ruin and loss is impossible to bear and the next minute a bus full of Vanderbilt students shows up to spend 2 weeks volunteering in the “dish pit.” One minute you can't hear anything for the roar of twin-rotor Army helicopters overhead and the next you see a pair of snowy white egrets soaring beneath them. One particularly bizarre night huge fires burned simultaneously within a few miles of our base camp; one was a massive pile of flooded debris and asbestos shingles and the other was a scrap yard full of exploding gas canisters. The high winds were fueling both of them, and two men from the EPA came by to test the air levels for toxins. We were prepared to evacuate but the wind turned, and the next morning woke up to a brilliant, perfect rainbow. That's how it is here, every day.
Our compound in Arabi is in the washed-out mire of what used to be “The Finish Line” Off-Track-Betting Parlor, which is across the street from what used to be the 7-11, next to what used to be the local Baptist Church, across from what used to be the movie theater (“We will reopen. Please call with ideas how.”), on the corner by what used to be the Wal-Mart, which is boarded-up and collapsed just like every single other building here; its parking lot is now a
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