(We have another Student Writing today. We are doing a series of student writings about Tom Piazza's book City of Refuge which is all about Hurricane Katrina. This essay is by a nun from Mexico who is a nurse and also a student of the English language at SVDP-ALC. She was not in New Orleans for Katrina; but she treats the sick in New Orleans today, many of whom still suffer emotionally or physically from the storm.
--Adrian)
The Incomparable Sorrow of New Orleans
By Sr. Silvia Rodriguez
Three years ago I was part of the religious community in Kansas City, KS. On Sunday August 28, 2005, in the morning I heard that our sisters in New Orleans received a mandatory evacuation due to Hurricane Katrina that was headed directly to New Orleans. But they couldn't evacuate because there were 18 sisters, and they only had two cars. So, just six evacuated and 12 decided to stay in the convent.
As Tom Piazza said in his book, City of Refuge (page 153), "around the country we were immersed in constant information on television" ; the news spoke about the worst catastrophe in the country's history.
We and our sisters trusted that they would be safe like on other occasions. Very worried, we prayed day and night for our sisters and for all the people who could not evacuate. Since Monday morning until Wednesday night we didn't hear anything about them. All day some of us stayed in front of the TV.
I remember very clearly the images at the Superdome and the Convention Center; I suffered a lot for these people too when I saw 25,000 people with the temperature around 100 degrees, with a very hot environment, uncomfortable.
They were suffering terribly, without ventilation, air conditioning, bathrooms. They really were in a desperate situation.
It wasn't easy to see this sorrow in people -- hungry, thirsty, in despair. It wasn't easy to see bodies floating face down like a piece of garbage; people, crying ...
We can't compare our suffering with the sorrow of the people from New Orleans, but we suffer for them too.
City of Refuge is the reality in a novel. Tom Piazza shared the feelings and the viewpoint of the people who suffer a catastrophe known world-wide.
1 comment:
Were your Sisters in New Orleans OK? I would like to hear about their story and what brought you from Kansas City to New Orleans. I hope you write further on this topic.
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