[StBernard] New Orleans House Party: How to find a filthy angel

[Westley Annis]

New Orleans House Party: How to find a filthy angel
All around the New Orleans area there are these X's painted on people's
houses. In each section of the X there are things written. The upper
quadrant is the date the house was checked, the left is the unit that did
the check and the lower quadrant is the number of dead people found. I
mostly saw zeros, but I did see some ones and twos in some places that were
hit badly. 


Today we tore down drywall at Don & Rita's house in Slidell. They are a
couple in their 80s. Don is in a wheelchair because of a stroke he suffered
a few years ago. In Slidell, they had 4 to 5 feet of standing water for a
24-hour period. In some of the low-lying areas in New Orleans they had water
for a month. That water had to be pumped because it had nowhere to go. In
Slidell they have trailers provided by FEMA. Still, you have to have
electricity to get a trailer. Rita said, "Don probably wouldn't have
survived if it wasn't for the trailer." She thanked us effusively for the
work we did.



One of the other groups went to a house on Charles Drive in the Chalmette
area east of New Orleans. The neighborhood had a Murphy's Oil plant near it
that had a spill, and so the land was contaminated. The cleanup crew had to
wear full protective suits. The owner of the house, Charles, had a Purple
Heart he wanted removed from the mess. One of the volunteers, Robert, found
the room where it was. There were overturned shelves and everything was
pretty well destroyed. Robert located a badly damaged case and inside was
the Purple Heart in perfect condition. Charles was overjoyed by the
discovery.



In the same house Charles's wife, Rose, had an extensive collection of
porcelain angels. The bookcase where they'd resided was overturned and
they'd gotten covered in filth. The team kept finding the angels throughout
the day, preserved in the mud. Rose gave each of the girls on the team an
angel to keep. Charles and Rose, who were in their 60s, insisted on working
right along with our crew. They bought everyone Po' Boy sandwiches for
lunch.

Words and pictures by Adam Craven

Editors note: Last month, Adam Craven, a graphic designer for City Pages,
barreled down I-55 to New Orleans in a caravan of five rented minivans.
Along with a crew from his Minneapolis church, the Rock, he spent a full
work week cleaning out houses in Louisiana. This is part three of a
five-part series.
Day One, Day Two

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 5, 2006 10:04 AM
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2006/04/new_orleans_hou_2.asp