Things that give u hope in New Orleans

Amongst the undercurrents of sadness and silent trauma haunting the residents of New Orleans as they walk and drive daily through the city that used to be, there are little glimmers of hope around every corner. Where humans can destroy, nature can destroy human existence. Yet, when we learn to live together, understand each other and accept who we are, perhaps we can one day learn to live with nature as well.

Over the past few days I have found hope, pride, motivation, spirit and life in the communities I have visited and now live amongst. The Vietnamese community has taken me in as one of them, invited me into their homes and shared their lives with me. Life isn't that dis-similar to where I come from. They are a jovial young bunch of adults who see the brighter side of life. They mock and play in jest, poke fun at each other and generally 'take the piss' - i taught them that aussie euphemism.

Although life is hard, this community has managed to band together and rebuild a lot of what they had lost. They all came from the same 2 villages in the north of Vietnam, escaped to the south, then escaped in a boat to the US. As boat people, they were sent to Arkansas and then decided - due to climate and coast, to settle in the south of Louisiana. So the networks are already in existence and the experience of Katrina was nothing more than just another thing to deal with in life for these, once boat people - war refugees. I guess life is relative to what you have lived through, what you experience and how you dealt with it in the past. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, and this holds true in this community. As generations grow up, there are problems arising. There's the usual shit - gang involvement, drugs, crime, finding a Vietnamese-American identity, forging a life as a refugee migrant, grappling with a new culture, holding on to the past and trying to make a hopeful and fruitful future for the next generation. Their ties to Vietnam and their ties to other Vietnamese around the world and throughout the United States has provided them with the resources necessary to build back better. Yet, there is resentment. As usual, when one community does better than another, the others will also want a slice of the cake, become envious and wonder - why can't we have that too? I can see some changes in this generation. There is discussions of coalitions with other ethnic groups. One community leader who is just fantastic, asked me to connect him with another group so he can learn from their experience, perhaps see where he can be of assistance and provide extra resources. This is the change. At this point I hope communities collide in an aray of rainbow colours... literally.

Links to the Vietnamese Community projects and future recovery plans

http://www.mqvncdc.org

http://www.huongdoung.org