SERVICE
Many survivors, even in the midst of disasters, move toward resilience and recovery and renewal through acts of service toward others. Here are some of their voices.
Prentiss Polk is a 24 year-old roofer from New Orleans. He says of his experience of service in Katrina:
When the hurricane hit, I was in the Florida Projects. In the Ninth Ward. I stayed in that water for like three days. Helping people and bringing people food and water.
First we built a raft. We went to an old tire shop, got some tires with air in them. Got some two by fours, and three sheets of plywood, and built it. We tried to save as many people as we could…we built an ark. We carried a five month old baby through the storm. Through the water. He a little soldier too. He a survivor. He five months old. It’s raining. We walking through five and six feet a water with him. And he’s holding us down. He’s not crying or nothing.
We helped a lot of people. We did our thing, man.
As survivors “do their thing” of service, wonderful things happen:
Helena Garrett, whose 16-month-old son, Tevin, was one of 16 children killed in the America's Kids Day Care Center on the second floor. Nineteen children were among 168 people who lost their lives that day.
"Grief was never really spoken about," Garrett said. "People were too afraid to address those issues. I didn't want to be seen as, 'Oh, she needs help.' I had such a silent voice. I wouldn't talk to anyone. I just kept everything inside of me. I didn't know how to release it."
But speaking to school groups and others about her loss and feelings and looking into the eyes of listeners have helped her realize that others understand her emotions.
"People are actually agreeing with how you feel," Garrett said. "They say that time heals all wounds. That's not true. I'm not healed. It still hurts. I still miss him."
(Kidwell Katrina) The reporters said they needed medical help: nurses, people with experience. I don’t have any experience to speak of. But there was one doctor in particular who said, whoever you are, if you’re watching this please, we need help. We need help now.
I sat there listening to him for about a minute before something clicked in my brain. It was like hello! He’s talking to you! You’re watching this and they need help. I was like, oh my god, I have to go down there.
I felt like I understood the need for being positive about it, but I didn’t feel like I needed to sugarcoat. I did sugarcoat. I didn’t talk about what happened to my friend’s boyfriend, how this woman was like, can you help me, please, [her hands cupped in front of her face] and he’s like, sure! What do you need? And she brought her hands down and she had vomited into them. And didn’t know what to do with it. It’s like, nobody’s going to talk about that shit because it’s disgusting. People don’t want to hear about it. I felt like part of the problem was that people don’t want to hear about it.
Mary Mowdy, who was on her third day at work at the Oklahoma Guaranteed Student Loan Program:
She began speaking out about her experience when the community's focus shifted from the horror of the bombing to preventing another terrorist attack.
"I just didn't want to be one of those who just sat around and felt sorry for myself," said Mowdy, who suffered a punctured jugular vein that required 1,000 stitches and staples to close.
"When you get kicked in the teeth, you just don't lie there. You get up and make the most of what you have," she said. "Here we are 14 years out, and I feel pretty good about letting them see that's not what you do. I do think it's a very important message."
Dr. Ellie Lottinville, a psychologist who was in charge of the death notification teams for the American Red Cross and later treated many survivors and victims' family members in her private practice:
"We grieve. And it's normal. All of us have had to grieve over the deaths of these people," she told a group of high school psychology students.
"You pull back away from people instead of coming forward to people," Lottinville said. Survivors had to learn "to turn it around."
"If I was going to heal, I needed to get out and help these people. I had to do something to give back. You do something for someone. You can't do it right off. You have to let the grief set in."
