Darrell Holleman, formerly of New Orleans, sat on the steps of the D.C. Armory last Wednesday smoking a cigarette. He had a backpack, a few science fiction books to pass the time and the clothes on his back. He also held a bus ticket that was going to take him to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to his dad and brother, and hopefully to a job and a new life.
Bobby James came back from buying new clothes with the $350 debit card the Red Cross gave him. He found a job at a Shoe City is going to start work there today. He said he wants to start a new life in Washington, but first he wants to find his girlfriend, who was separated from James two weeks ago by Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters to ever hit the U.S.
"Man, that's my heart...I'm lost without her," James said.
Holleman and James are just two of the approximately 350 survivors of Hurricane Katrina, who are being sheltered at the National Guard Armory in Washington, D.C., and all of them have a story about how they got there.
James stayed in the city trying to find his girlfriend for as long as he could hold out, surviving on bread, water and potato chips. He said he waded back and forth through the flood waters everyday, wearing his blue cap.
"I'm that guy you saw on T.V.," James said.
James wrote "Ready to leave the city" on a white cloth and tied it to the end of a fishing pole when he realized he couldn't stay anymore, he said. He was picked up by a helicopter and made his way to the New Orleans airport.
Desmond Daniels, 35, like James, escaped from the flooded New Orleans on his own.
"They didn't come rescue us, not in my 'hood...The way the treated us, it's like it wasn't even our home," Daniels said. "We got our own people out and brought them to dry ground."
Daniels was upset with the way the government handled the situation. He said he is happy to be at the armory though, and according to Daniels, they are treating everyone well there.
"We got one of the best," he said, referring to the Armory as a shelter.
The shelter, run by the American Red Cross, issued identification cards and offered medical treatment, mental health counseling, job referrals and assistance with school enrollment, according to an article in The Washington Post.
Floyd Patterson, a clinical social worker at the armory, was trying to help the victims of the hurricane understand the services available to them. Also, he listened to many of personal stories of survival.
"It makes you realize how lucky you are to have someone to go home to," Patterson said. "We have families who haven't seen families... children who haven't seen mothers... husbands who haven't seen wives... lovers who might never be lovers again."
Despite the sadness, the New Orleans evacuees were not without hope.
Willy Cley, 66, sat in the shade in a wheel chair the Red Cross gave him for his arthritic knees. Cley has lived in New Orleans for 58 years and wants to return.
"[There is] snow up here. I don't like no snow," Cley said. "In New Orleans, you can wear a short sleeve shirt year round. As soon as they open those pearly gates, I'm gone"
