As hurricane Wilma hammers Florida, there might be some consolation in reading about a small good thing that has been occurring in the aftermath of Katrina. From the Associated Press by way of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Writing helping young Katrina survivors
By Martha Irvine, AP National Writer
A high school senior, displaced by Hurricane Katrina, sits down to write about the journey that brought her from the chaotic shelter at the New Orleans Superdome to Tulsa, Okla., where she still feels lost and alone.
A college freshman whose family fled safely from Katrina recounts how she ended up on a New Orleans causeway overpass, helping evacuees with medical problems.
And, watching the disaster and rebuilding efforts from afar, middle schoolers in southern Illinois send handwritten letters to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in hopes that he will pass them on to others their age.
"I just learned something from this, after seeing all of this," Allie Dean, a sixth-grader in Mount Carmel, Ill., wrote. "I really need to count my blessings and stop asking for stuff. I need to care more about other people and not just myself. Everybody here, including me, cares about you and your families."
In the weeks since hurricanes ravaged the Gulf Coast, sitting down with pen and paper or fingers on keyboard has helped many young people digest what's happened. For some, it's been a way to vent or express sympathy and support for disaster victims.
Those too young to write have been encouraged to draw pictures or take part in "play therapy," allowing them to act out what they're feeling.
"Many of these children have witnessed horrific and almost apocalyptic scenes. I'm seeing a lot of shock - but I'm also seeing a lot of hope," says Eric Green, a professor at Johns Hopkins University who returned to help young people in Louisiana, where he'd been a school counselor.
In Baton Rouge, faculty and students at Louisiana State University quickly organized the Katrina Writing Project, offering evacuees of all ages a notebook to write down their thoughts or compose poetry - whatever they wanted. Before long, people were seeking out volunteers to ask for a notebook.
Read the rest here.
