Starting From Scratch

By Rose Aguilar, AlterNet. Posted September 14, 2005.

Two days before Hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans, 49-year-old Walter Favoroth opened a detailing business. "We invested about $2,500 in that," he says.

Now his business, along with his home and personal belongings, are all gone

Favoroth's story is just as gripping as all the rest. He describes saving his wife Yolanda. "I'm in water up to here and I had her on my neck. I had to walk like that for five miles. She doesn't know how to swim," he says. "In our house, we were watching the storm. We saw water coming under the door fast. I went to go get a sheet to put under the door and the water just came in. It filled our bathtub and our toilet and water rushed up to the ceiling. In a matter of five minutes, the whole house was full of water."

The Favoroths, like so many families, have since left New Orleans to start a new life in an unknown town. After spending a few horrific days in the New Orleans Convention Center, the couple boarded an airplane from New Orleans bound for San Antonio, Texas, or so they thought. After they took off, they were told they were actually going to Salt Lake City, Utah.

"I never got on an airplane in my life. It was an experience," Favoroth says. "I was hugging my wife saying, 'Baby, are we gonna be alright?'"

Over 63,000 New Orleans residents have been flown to shelters in nine states throughout the country, including Texas, Arizona, Georgia and Utah. Many had no idea where they were going or when they would return to New Orleans, if ever. Two weeks ago, 583 people were unknowingly flown to Salt Lake City, Utah. From there, they were taken to Camp Williams in Draper, Utah. Many left the base almost immediately and many more took buses to Texas to reunite with loved ones. As of Saturday, 299 people remained at the shelter.

Rebuilding Lives

When I visited Camp Draper last Wednesday, I expected to meet people who were angry about unknowingly being flown to a state that couldn't be more different from Louisiana. What I found were people who were happy to be safe and who wanted nothing more than to share their stories, especially those who had been trapped in the New Orleans Convention Center without food and water. "There were horror scenes all over," says 20-year-old Cornell Perkins. "People scouring for food, water, Pampers for babies. Two or three babies died. It was very tragic. "

Perkins was in the convention center for four days until a charter bus picked him up and took him to the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans. How did he feel when he found out he was on his way to Utah? "I felt bad at first. I'm like, what are we doing in Utah? I thought we were going to San Antonio like the National Guard told us. Man, we wound up far away from the south, but I've adjusted and I'm about to start my life over here in Utah."

Every person I interviewed who plans to stay in Utah said they were eager to find work; most made under $7/hour in New Orleans. "Everyone has been nice, but I feel that since I'm out here, I need to do something because I don't have anything," says John Tucker, 26. Tucker is still searching for his mother, Patricia Tucker. "I want to get a job. I was a cook in New Orleans, so if I can get a job and make some money, I'll stay out here until I find my mother."

At a job fair last Thursday, 44 New Orleans evacuees were hired and 19 more have been called for second interviews. In addition to the job fair, the shelter provides phone and computer services, doctor appointments, prescriptions, free bus passes and information on housing. Many apartment complex owners in Salt Lake City have agreed to both waive deposit fees and cap rents in order to keep living expenses affordable.

Red Cross Public Affairs Director George Muller cautions people who say they are ready to rebuild their lives in Salt Lake City to first come to terms with their loss. "They should wait until they get fully fed and they're used to a shower and everything else," he says. "Then they'll go through different stages, including safety, shelter, food and then self-actualization. When they reach the self-actualization level, what's going to start happening? They'll probably say, 'I want to go back to Louisiana because I miss the Cajun food.' Or 'It's too dry here. I hate the winters.'"

Rose Aguilar is a San Francisco-based journalist gathering stories from people living in states that voted overwhelmingly for George W. Bush. Track her journey at Stories in America.

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