Rebuilding Biloxi

Biloxi, Mississippi is a small coastal city an hour and a half east of New Orleans. The area sustained tremendous damage in Hurricane Katrina. Entire blocks of homes were washed away, and thousands of families were displaced. Much of the ongoing devastation has been overshadowed by media attention to the larger scale of damage in New Orleans, and communities are fighting for resources. While some residents are scrounging for money, supplies, and an increasing need for skilled labor (rather than general volunteer labor), others have been displaced and may never be able to return. The stories we heard in our two days here indicate that, while well-intentioned, many of the non-profit organizations that have responded to the disaster have done so on their own terms rather than being guided by residents in meeting their needs. Coastal Women for Change is a grassroots organization whose mission is to put local residents back at the center of the conversation about the rebuilding of Biloxi.

On Tuesday, one of the women of CWC took us to meet her brother, John, whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. We went to see him at his home, which he decided to rebuild from the ground up rather than try to repair the damage. “I knew it would be forever if I waited for the government money, so I just decided to do it myself. I’ll probably finish before I get anything from them.” He started in November 2005, before anyone else in town had started rebuilding, and spent the first two months digging the foundation. Since then he has been putting aside a chunk of his paycheck each month to buy supplies and working on the house for two hours every day, on top of his job at the navy shipyard. Sometimes he works alone, other times friends or neighbors or volunteers passing through help him. This being his first attempt at home construction, he bought a blueprint from Loew’s and modified it to provide the house with even better wind and rain resistance. Today the house has a solid frame, plumbing, and electrical wiring, which have passed code inspections, and John expects to finish by August this year.

As he proudly walked us through each room of the house, John shared with us that a part of his motivation to take on such a massive project himself was the desire to be a role model for his community and to show the kids in the neighborhood what can be accomplished with determination. We found ourselves in awe of his perseverance and patience – it took him four attempts to get the first wall straight, and even on the hottest summer days he said he puts up at least two wooden boards. We were deeply moved by John sharing his vision with us as well as the healing that it has provided him. “After I was done crying and I couldn’t cry anymore, I just had to do something, and this was it.”

In addition to the immense personal resilience we saw in John, we were also struck by the support that he has gotten from friends, family, and colleagues. We were inspired by his story and the many differing stories of rebuilding lives that we heard from the women of CWC and the other people we met.

-Megan C-R & Selene