Uprooted by Katrina, evacuees `help themselves’ By Fabvienen Taylor
JACKSON — Two years ago, Ramon Augustus and Annie Barnes literally lost the roofs over their heads — with thousands of others — when Hurricane Katrina chewed up parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. Augustus was in New Orleans, Barnes in Collins.
Today, Augustus and his family live in Jackson. Barnes returned to Collins and lives in a trailer, next to her severely damaged house.
“We had planned on buying the house we had been renting on Port Street in the lower ninth ward,” said Augustus, 32. But on Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina squashed their plans.
“The house itself had sat in the water so long it was basically coming apart,” he said. “We couldn’t go back there. My kids needed a better environment to live in.”
So Augustus, his wife, Crystal, and their five children resettled in Jackson, where the family is purchasing a house.
“I’m glad to have the house but it needs a lot of repairs, there are a lot of kinks to be worked out,” he said.
“I didn’t know how to do the work and paying someone else would have to come out of my pocket bigtime, so I decided to take it upon myself to get into a program where I could learn how to do the work myself,” said Augustus, a truck driver.
Barnes, 51, who commutes daily from Collins, jumped at the chance to gain self-esteem skills and to learn the construction skills she needs to add on and do repairs to her trailer.
“At the time I started this program, my self-esteem was really low, I felt like I didn’t have any hope,” said Barnes, who is separated from her husband. “That was another thing the hurricane brought.”
“I felt like I was starting over and this program gave me the opportunity to help myself. And, this program helped me to communicate to others that you don’t have to stay in an abusive, bad situation, no matter how old you are.”
Barnes and Augustus are rebuilding their lives by learning life skills and job training skills through Training to Work and Ownership (TWO), a project of Friends of Children of Mississippi Inc., which partnered with Catholic Charities Long Term Recovery Program, for persons displaced or uprooted by Katrina.
“We have 14 clients in the 16-week project,” said Vernessia Harbin, long term program director. “The population we are assisting is mainly from New Orleans and most, not all, lacked the skills to become employed.”
On Oct. 1, when they complete their training, the participants will be certified in the job trac they chose: construction trades, Certified Nurse Assistants (CNA), computer information technician, or Child Development Associate (CDA).
TWO. will then place the participants in jobs, or help them to go into business for themselves, said Mary Scales, project director. TWO will follow the participants for two years, assisting them in honing their work skills, additional job searches, and/or establishing their own businesses.
As project director, Scales led the group through orientation and instructed them in self-esteem workshops for six weeks before they began job training.
Last week Scales was found working alongside Augustus and Barnes in a house that had been gutted which the participants are completely redoing. A local contractor supervises the work.
“They are struggling on many levels,” said Scales, who in shepherding the group through the training project, has learned of the emotional trauma many of them and their family members continue to deal with.
“First, we help build their inner strengths, build back their confidence in themselves and help them to restructure their lives,” she said. “We give them tips on dealing with family members, job skills, legal issues, and health issues. Any problems they identify is addressed.”
Scales said she hopes the partnership with Catholic Charities will continue. “This partnership has been wonderful,” she said. “I am very proud there is an agency out here like Catholic Charities that is really helping their clients through our program.
“I think when agencies come together we can get more done rather than each working alone. It is going to take all of us to pitch in, roll up our sleeves and assist people who are trying to help themselves,” Scales said.
The partnership began when Sister Donna Gunn, former director of parish social ministries at Catholic Charities who spearheaded the agency’s local disaster response after Katrina, contacted Marvin Hogan.
“We had worked together during the days of welfare reform in the 1990s and I knew about his program,” she said.
Hogan, who established Friends of Children 41 years ago, said Sister Gunn called him and asked if the training program could assist people in Jackson. TWO primarily works in the Mississippi Delta.
“Sister Donna asked me to do something for her and I did,” said Hogan, who does not believe in the word “help.”
“I tell people looking for the government to help them that the ‘help me’ period ended in the ‘70s and ‘80s. I don’t believe in that, don’t subcribe to it.
“I tell people I believe in assisting them, which means they have made up their minds to do something for themselves. Then I can assist them in getting that done, but they have to take the first step. That is my philosophy,” said Hogan, “and I tell them that the first day they begin training.”
According to Hogan, from 2001-2006 TWO has trained 494 people with 99 percent of them employed or self-employedand assisted 271 new businesses in getting started, with average incomes of $41,000.
Another connection Sister Gunn called on were sisters, mostly retired, from several different religious orders to act as mentors for those in training.
“I asked them to first pray for those in training and for their success,” she said, “to write them, encourage them, to do everything they could to make a personal connection with that individual to keep them faithful to the training program.”
Unsurprisingly, the sisters sprung to action.
Augustus said the cards have been flowing in from Sister Mary Beth Wilhelm, a member of the Congregation of St. Agnes (CSA), who lives in St. Agnes Convent in Fond du Lac, Wis.
“She wrote me and said she will always be standing by my side, praying for me and my family,” he said. “She tells me to keep up the good work, to keep striving to succeed.”
Barnes gets a card every week from Sister Mary Ellen Jones, CSA, who lives at the Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis.
“She sends her prayer support, hopes I am doing a good job, and asks what needs we have so she can put it in her prayers,” Barnes said. “It makes you feel great to know we are not just here alone. When people send out their prayers for us, we know we are getting help from heaven too.”
Katrina chewed up parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. Augustus was in New Orleans, Barnes in Collins.
And, this program helped me to communicate to others that you don’t have to stay in an abusive, bad situation, no matter how old you are.”
