Crazy New Orleans

So we got to work today. We showed up at this house, that seemed fairly normal, and in a normal neighborhood, and even once the guys and I got inside it seemed like a normal house being worked on. It wasn't till the husband and wife who lived there, started telling their story, the place took on a whole new vibe. The wife and two daughters left a day before the hurricane hit. Got stuck in traffic and got to Mississippi a few days later. The father and son stayed behind, but once the levy broke the water rose 8 feet in 45 minutes. They went up to their attic to get above the water but when the water kept rising, they had to cut a hole in their roof with a chainsaw to escape drowning. He dove down to his garage type thing to free their canoe type thing. Then he "borrowed" his neighbors motor boat to go around helping people, and finding food wherever they can. We looked out over the neighborhood as the wife told us that there use to be so many more houses around, and saying that only a couple of their neighbors even came back. He even told us it isn't uncommon to hear about shootings in the area on a daily basis. He said she doesn't let her daughter play outside by herself, even during the day.
My greatest sadness came when I was walking around with their 7 year old daughter. She was on an adventure trying to find something fun. But all we were finding was junk. Not sure if it was just something like we would find in any given field, or something left from a house. We did find a concrete block in the ground leftover from the neighbors house. Then went walking around some more and she was saying how her toys went usable, cause all the family money was being put into fixing up the house. She had a slide and some stuff in the yard, but bees and things were flying around her stuff. She is such a wonderful girl and full of imagination, that she just plays with whatever she can, and seemed to have a lot of fun. I know a similar devastation just happened in other places of the world, but here in New Orleans there is still lots of help needed, for families like this one who have struggled for 6 years now just trying to survive and make their life better.