A Sense of Home - Dave Karas

Among the four hours of heartbreaking stories, troubling images, and testimonials about the failed government response to Hurricane Katrina, one thing stood out in my mind more than any other. It was one of the residents, who said, "They can't come home."

"They can't come home."

I can't help but think about how, after we spend a week down there, we can come home. Whether it is home with parents, friends, or at TCNJ, we have somewhere to call "home." We have somewhere to go back to. That is much more than we can say for so many, who have not yet received the help and support they deserve in the wake of a natural disaster.

I had never seen this film before, only watched the television news broadcasts surrounding when the Hurricane hit. Last year, I was not able to attend the Bonner NOLA trip, but I wrote an article about it for The Signal. I kept hearing Bonners tell me that there was so much more to be done, and to this day I have been hoping that they were wrong. It is simply incomprehensible for me to imagine families not having a home, or for that matter an adequate form of shelter, for four and a half years, with nothing being done about it. I can hardly imagine the pain they must have experienced, and the daily struggles that must fill their lives.

Watching this video assured me that it is that bad in New Orleans, even now, even today, even over four years after Katrina. Though I am nervous about witnessing the extent of the tragedies that we will encounter, I am looking forward to playing a part, however small it may be, in helping to restore the feeling of "home" for some of the residents.