Kids move mountains - Katrina juvenile responders
Kathleen Johnson 4.15.07
Kathleen Johnson is a long term volunteer who has been working in Mississippi since just after the storm. Currently Kathleen is Director of Katrina Relief an organization she started after arriving in Mississiippi – it is under the umbrella of the Waveland Citizens Fund a registered 501 ( c ) 3.
One of the facets of hurricane Katrina the that has not been emphasized is the impact of the tragedy of Katrina on the juvenile volunteer responder and the resulting issues with team cohesion and post traumatic stress. Exposure to the disaster can impact the juveniles and adult team leaders. The failure to recognize and address these issues, as they arise, can make the trip a difficult one for the team leaders as discipline of the team becomes more of the focus of the trip than the mission of learned volunteerism and assisting residents. Failure to address the issue at all can leave the parents dealing with aftermath emotional issues from the work experience and the parent mystified not understanding the underlying root cause being manifested in all sorts of symptoms.
I have been down in the Gulf Coast volunteering on the Katrina Disaster in Waveland, Mississippi almost since the aftermath of Katrina. I have volunteered in every aspect of the recovery at this point. I view the response from the director’s chair in the office as I send crews out to the field – a very different perspective. I have vacillated all over the place with regard to young juvenile volunteers coming down here to help – but have come to the conclusion that children can move mountains if given appropriate directive.
What I am not seeing is appropriate training being made available to the juvenile team leaders so that they may deal with issues relating to stress when the juveniles are exposed to the disaster platform as it exists in the field. Especially here in the Gulf region where the disaster spectrum is over such a broad area and everyone feels overwhelmed by the enormity of it all – especially the children and juveniles.
Reactions of the juvenile volunteers to the disaster
What happens, on arrival, is that the youth group processes the extent of the physical threat, loss of life and overall destruction not only to one town – but an entire region of the county. The reality of the scope of the disaster begins to strike them as they drive though the region to their base of operation at volunteer housing. It is not that they had not read or viewed the Katrina disaster on television prior – but now it is “real” as they drive mile after mile, to see home after home, demolished by the storm. On arrival on the jobsite they are exposed to cleaning up sites where the home, and all the personal possessions of the home owner, was destroyed. The juvenile is also charged with listening to the “story” that the home owner has to tell, while they work on the home, that not only includes the story of the hurricane, but the aftermath and the catastrophic implication of the failure of the government to meet the home owners personal and housing needs, insurance issues, and the emotional impact on their children along with vivid descriptions of the passing of loved ones or neighbors during the storm.
The juvenile can not help to learn quickly, while working alongside the residents in this region, that no one life, or life style, is invincible. An abrupt unexpected reckoning.
The reactions to the overall destruction can manifest as misbehavior or aggression, failure to cooperate in work assignments, difficulty in sleeping, upset stomach, inability to follow directions or concentrate, extremely short attention span on work assignments, overall dissatisfaction with the group mission, and discipline issues. What happens quickly is compassion fatigue.
Productivity is the ultimate measure of a team’s success on a volunteer mission and all of these issues will impede the team from reaching its full potential. Group dynamics are enough of an issue for team leaders off on a mission with a team of juveniles – the impact of a disaster area on the teams psyche further compounds the task.
First time exposure to poverty
For some of the team members, who are coming from in insulated affluent parts of the country; this is their first exposure to poverty. The first response, I have seen from some, is a judgmental stance similar to Marie Antoinette of “Let them eat cake.” They do not understand why “they just don’t go out and fix this problem and obtain gainful employment”. Not a simple task if you have little more than an eighth grade education and functionally illiterate. Nor an easy task if you are a third and fourth or fifth generation welfare recipient in an area where expectations, prior, were for no less than they are doing now – working in an environment where there is a sense of self entitlement.
I had a case last week where I had taken a team to pick up trash in a yard and the team leader was furious that the trash, in actual fact, was not from the storm but was from the resident’s refusal to use a trash can appropriately. Her first reaction was to ask me why the City didn’t pick up trash. I assured her they did. “Then why is all this trash in the yard” she demanded. I explained, as patiently as I could, that not all the volunteer work down here is about Katrina – but about sociological issues that have been generations in the making. I finally convinced the team to pick up the trash in the yard, rake the grass and leaves, and paint the storage shed a church had donated. On leaving the team could see the difference – but were not convinced the family would continue to keep up the good work. They wrote, a week later, and asked how the yard looked now. I assured them the family had moved forward and had even brought over their cousins, over the next few days, to clean up in the back yard. This work down here is a learning curve not only for the residents, but more importantly to understand - volunteers as well.
Volunteer Housing
Volunteer housing, of course, in the disaster area is primitive but clean, safe, sanitary and secure. You will not have the luxuries of home. Although the juveniles were advised prior – on arrival the reality sinks in. You are living in bunk houses, on cots, showering in primitive shower houses and, in some cases, using “porta potties” or the nearest tree out in the field. Privacy is a luxury and not available in these housing conditions. Not the most luxurious of accommodations. And the food is not “take out” or like Moms – and there are little choices at the dining table. Its either eat graciously what is being offered or go hungry as there are no refrigerators or fast food restaurants to go graze in.
But it is only five to seven days in a lifetime and you will not starve – although they may whine and carry on dramatically as if it’s the end of the world. I know – I have seen it over and over. And worse yet – there may not be a television. A crisis for some.
The team will also be expected to assist with camp chores such as vacuuming, sweeping, cleaning, taking out trash, washing dishes and doing laundry. Something many are not expected to do at home.
Team Leader – here with many different agenda needs
The team leader is here with many different agenda needs themselves not withstanding the expectations of their juvenile charges.
God bless the team leaders – what an undertaking. Taking across county with twenty to forty adolescent children aged 14-18 they often have not met prior to the meeting the night before the trip. Most have not received any training for this daunting task – they are choir directors, deacons, Sunday school teachers, and parents who have given up a week of their vacation to make a difference in someone’s life thousands of miles away.
And suddenly they are confronted with 20-40 different agenda needs of juveniles with unending energy hyped by the prospect of summer camp in the heart of the disaster they have only heard of in the newspapers and on television. The kids have been working for months to raise funds for this trip – it is their trip. An ownership tussle usually continues throughout the trip.
On arrival they find long term volunteers totally focused on the task of completing homes. There is no summer camp atmosphere – the aftermath Katrina is all about long long hours of hard work. Physically hard work. Work they never thought they could do before now. Not only are they expected to do the work – but do it well with military precision results as it is for someone else who also has high expectations – the homeowner and the volunteer construction coordinator. The construction coordinator is tasked with meeting the home owner needs and meeting local, state, and Federal building codes.
Dealing with volunteer assignments
Work orders are issued to each team based on skill level. It is imperative that the task is approached with a positive attitude and that the task is accomplished 100%. Leaving a poorly completed task because the team was not satisfied with the assignment, or because there were issues with team cohesiveness, is very hurtful to the homeowner and not constructive to the overall relief effort. It is also very important that any discussions with the homeowner be uplifting and positive.
Tools are expensive and difficult to replace in the disaster zone. They need to be treated with respect and always returned to the volunteer camp in good order and condition or replaced if broken. It is the responsibility of the team leaders to promote responsibility when it comes to tools as the juveniles often do not understand how expensive the tools are that they are using.
Volunteerism is an excellent platform to widen the juvenile’s exposure to other skill sets and they often can leave the mission with a new skill or knowledge that they are capable of any task given the right attitude and approach.
Work assignments need to be broken up with regular break times and a “time out” for the team during every day. The work day should not go beyond eight hours despite the fact that some volunteers and team leaders are driven to do more.
And paradise comes to an abrupt end and the bubble bursts
And suddenly the juvenile volunteer says “No” to a particular work assignment and sits out on the driveway petulantly while the rest of the team works, or starts fighting with other team members, is whining about the food, making derogatory remarks about anything and everything in front of the homeowner or host camp personnel, refusing to get out of bed in the morning, refusing to accept lights out at bedtime, disrupting the team at every opportunity – and in general not happy with the mission of the trip at all.
Just understand what may be causing this behavior and understand that you can and facilitate team cohesiveness by following some very simple steps once you arrive in the field
The Learning Curve
Embrace the issues:
Acknowledge the loss and the destruction of Katrina but emphasize that an entire nation is coming down to help rebuild and that they are expected to only contribute a very small part of that in the form skills that are age appropriate: assisting the long term volunteers at camp; painting, gutting; labor assistance to the carpenter, roofer, electrician; landscaping; and most important - listening to the residents tell their story as this helps them move forward. Be prepared to answer difficult questions from the team about lawlessness, why God let this happen, and poverty.
Daily Debriefing:
Allow daily debriefing sessions where the juveniles can discuss their concerns and address questions and vent their feelings. Their interaction in the field will be mostly with adult home owners and they need assistance dealing with the information they have absorbed and the emotional issues they have witnessed. Acknowledge and normalize their feelings.
All work and no play:
After a couple of days of hard work – it is time to take the group to the beach or any area away from the destruction so they can have some fun. It can be a half day trip on a ferry, a trip to a bigger town with an intact downtown area, a movie night at the camp, anything that removes the group from the “destruction”. It is also recommended that the last day be only a half day so that the team and drivers are well rested for the trip home. It is a long trip confined in a van with 10-15 tired and exhausted other individuals.
On Return to Home:
A debriefing session on return home is needed to help the juveniles manage any anxiety that may have manifested on the group trip and assist them with coping with the enormity of the destruction they have witnessed. They may have some guilt as they were not able to “fix” it all. Assure them that thousands of people will be coming down to volunteer and assist over the next several weeks, months, and years. Many of them will want to continue the relationships they may have formed with the home owners they assisted on the trip – that should be encouraged but parental supervision, to some degree, should be solicited. Parents should be part of this debriefing on arrival home.
Kids have moved mountains here in the aftermath of Katrina
I was not always a fan of juveniles on the job here in the aftermath of Katrina – the work is dirty, dangerous, and long and hard. But I am a fan now.
As we move further into the reconstruction phase with a desperate need for skilled carpenters, electricians, and plumbers – I see some turning away this juvenile unskilled labor force.
“Kids” can move mountains and melt hearts of the homeowners. They have come here with boundless energy and joyous hearts on a mission to assist residents get back into their homes – and found that the greatest reward was the inner strength and resilience they found within themselves. And all a successful trip takes is proper prior planning on the part of team leaders who understand how to limit the expectations to a realistic level and address the issues related to stress.
Come join us and volunteer – we need you all. This was a catastrophic disaster and we still have some 350,000 homes to refurbish or rebuild in the aftermath of Katrina.
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