First Day Posting - Live from Pearlington

Pearlington, Mississippi
Sunday, October 30, 2005

After an uneventful (and exhausting) drive - and easy border crossing - we arrived in Pearlington yesterday morning at 8:00 a.m. Wow, have some things changed! The Aid Mart is fully shelved and stocked, there are lots of good projects going on and lots of volunteers and workers. What hasn’t changed is the politics and the blah, blah, blah.

I won’t go into to it too much here, but it constantly amazes me how so many need to be in charge, to have control, to have their authority recognized. There have been some very stupid incidences here and some great heroism, including Miss Paula, on a return trip from Houston, throwing herself in front of an ambulance to stop the County from removing it. It doesn’t even belong to them. Doctors in the area want the Clinic closed because it’s cutting into their business, even though the residents using it can’t actually get anywhere else, for the most part. You get the picture.

Trailers are coming in more quickly, but there are still lots of people sleeping on the ground. We made contact with some of the residents I met the first time and they helped tune us in to what is going on, from the residents’ perspective. Insurance companies are pulling their usual scams and leaving families in the lurch, FEMA still does not have their act together in many respects and, of course, this all shows up on the ground, measured in degrees of misery for the folks of Pearlington. We will focus on them alone and again I am proud to be Canadian and to not have to recognize ANY authority but that of my Creator and the people I came to serve.

In the end, it was only me and Nancy Semple, from Collingwood, who set out on this mission. Together, we have 35 sponsorships of Hope Chests and we raised sufficient money to meet the needs of our Team. Eventually I decided to purchase the contents of the Hope Chests locally, as people are being turned back at the US border if they think you are coming here to help. They claim we are taking jobs from Americans. There was no evidence of our destination in our vehicle at the border and we had no problems whatsoever.

It was such an odd experience for me at first. Last time when I got here I was put to work immediately. This time, things were covered and we had nothing to do at first. It was probably just as well - we were exhausted. I asked God to direct me where we should be and we soon found out about the planned Hallowe’en party for the kids, coming up last night at 6:00 p.m. I brought a large Public Address system with me and a whole pile of karaoke music, thinking we would lift some spirits with a karaoke evening. They asked me to set it up with some “scary” music for the kids at the party. We got some Hallowe’en-type music and got ready for the kids.

In they came. There was face painting and workers in homemade costumes, lots of candy and handouts and the kids were so cute. Many didn’t have the usual things they would have had for the event, and that was a bit sad, but we made the best of it. The music thing turned into an impromptu karaoke event and an amazing transformation took place. People all over town could hear us and showed up with their families to try and have some fun. Kids sang, as did some of the parents, and we had an old-fashioned smackdown in front of the Shelter and the parking lot. People laughed and danced and workers kept telling me it was a wonderful break from all the politics in the last few days. People’s faces lit up and we had a great time. It was the first time since Katrina there was music and ready laughter and dancing in the streets. What a great event!

Just as I said to Nancy that we needed a bus to go into the community to get the kids, a pick-up entered the secure area pulling a big flatbed loaded with kids and their parents. It was driven by a woman dressed as a clown - smoking a cigarette. The kids got painted and loaded down with goodies and laughed their way through the night. One of the Red Cross volunteers had painted a mural on the side of the school and all the kids - and all of us - were invited to sign it. It was just plain fun.

We finally got to bed around 11:00 p.m. Bed is in a tent someone left behind - a big Coleman tent that fit both of us and our supplies very nicely. It was cold here last night, maybe 4 or 5 degrees Celsius - quite a change to the 31 degree nights here 5 weeks ago! The days are sunny and warm, but the nights are cold. I slept for 8 solid hours; giving me a total of 14 hours of sleep or so, in the last 72 hours. This morning, a new food service place served the residents breakfast for the first time in 10 days. We had sausage and waffles, with syrup and grits and it was fine. I didn’t get supper last night - too busy singing - so breakfast went down well.

Today, I have a few folks to visit who need to talk and I am going to set up a blog for Pearlington itself. We will post stories and updates regularly and help the world keep in touch with the folks here. The workers from the Red Cross (at the moment) are all very dedicated and loving and struggling with the bureaucracy under which they toil. We let nothing stand in the way of service to the locals and “clipboards” don’t last long. But they have had their day, here and there, and we will help the community recover from their damage.

It’s great to be back and I look forward to breaking my own heart all over again. These people - all people who struggle - deserve nothing less and we are here for them. We have a huge Karaoke Evening planned for Friday and there were enough folks here last night to spread the word and make it a seriously fun event. Everyone’s talking about what a great time was had by all last night. Enough of the hardship already - LET’S SING!

I miss my wife and my morning hug, but at breakfast little Hailey found me again and that was almost as good. On Monday we will build our Hope Chests and get to handing them out. The sun is shining, my heart is already full and I have energy to spare. Everyone loves it that Canada is here and residents are stepping up to renew our friendships. “Canada Jon” is back in town and there’s lots to be done. Rest well this Sunday and send the good people of Pearlington all the love you can spare. They so richly deserve it.