Week 3 Ups, Downs and Energies

[Guest guest]

Hey All,

 

Here is another update for Week 3 of the Katrina aftermath, as through

the perspective of a volunteer in Houston, who has been helping out,

every day for the past 3 weeks..

 

Sorry, if you get this more than once, or are not interested or is not

on-topic but...Im sending an update on the current status, from the

point of a volunteer helping the Katrina-effected Americans in Houston.

 

The first 2 weeks, I really neglected my body. and averaged 2 to 4

hours of sleep, every night, working to set things up in the food or

medical areas or helping as many folks as I could find. I almost wanted

my own Cot there, to save valuable commute time. This week, has been

just as challenging, but Im finally making sure I get some rest now.

The local authorities have put lots of folks in local hotels,

apartments and houses. and now there are about 4,000 folks at the Major

Shelter, Reliant area.

 

I was amazed to see how much things was still dis-organized. Last week,

they moved everybody (my estimates, looks like about 1,000 folks) out of

one of the medium sized buildings Reliant Arena. and into the Reliant

Center. This week they started moving Everyone left in the Astrodome

(1,600 different folks) into the Reliant Arena. and yesterday, they were

transporting the 3,000 folks staying at the Center, back to the Reliant

Arena....many of which, had been there before.

 

This situation is bordering on the in-humane. They are enforcing a 11

pm curfew for everyone. Children, teenagers and adults. Many adults are

feeling like prisoners without the freedoms to do what they want. (even

if it is mainly to go shopping or have a cigarette to deal with their

stresses) They are not allowed to re-enter the building after 11pm. and

must fend for themselves until 6am the following morning. No more

internet access, but volunteers help look up lost loved ones. No more

clothes are available. The place has over-running trash cans unless

their is an " officials " visit. Marie got a few Big Ant Bites from a

nearby trash can filled with old food, medical services have been cut

back severely and folks few possessions have been kept locked away in

storage,, forcing them back to bare essentials without their consent.

..Why? because of very small and tight living areas, and because one

football game and risk of any liability to the building owners, is more

important than humanitarian needs.

 

A few folks lose thier armbands and are not allowed entry back into the

area. and end up completely homeless and forgotten.

 

Oddly, even though they like maintaining " control " over folks with a 11

pm curfew for all. They still watch idly by as kids play out of

control, and throw footballs into the sleeping areas which hit elderly

and handicap folks and yell, but only 1 out of 30 incidents is ever

corrected. and some of the adults have lost sleep as a result. I

reported this to several military folks just standing by, and some cops

too, but their answers sounded more like excuses of anyone, not wanting

to get involved, until a fight breaks out.

 

Thanks to lot of great folks that somehow get to read this email, I have

had donations of all kinds arrive and I have been busily giving them out

to folks that need them. Right now, I have plenty of clothes, plus

with what the church has donated, so please do not send anymore

clothes...until you hear differently.

 

I've also been giving out $20 and $50 gift cards from Walmart, thanks to

lots of caring folks around the nation. At first, I made a few

mistakes...I was looking for any big families with lots of kids to give

them to, but then realized that a few of them, already had " plenty " of

new stuff and portable DVD players or built up expectations that they

deserved to get everything I had and was too greedy and didn't want me

to share my stuff with others. So then, I started paying closer

attention, and observing families and doing a self-assessment, of

sorts. One of the many families I picked, was a thin woman, who had 2

kids from 11 to 15 and all of them were very thin and probably had

mal-nutrition. Her Son, seemed to also be a little " slow " somehow. I

watched her in the corner of my eye for a while. and when I finally

decided she was going to have a really hard road to recovery, I

approached her, talked with her a bit and then I saw a beatiful beam of

light as her eyes lit up, when I gave her a $50 gift card. and then I

later brought in some really nice clothes that a dry cleaner

donated..(lost and found clothes) and I made sure that she got first

pick of anything she wanted.

 

Another Odd story....One other volunteer I never met before, helped me

pass out clothes, shower shoes, underwear, etc... One guy, in his 60s,

asked if we had underwear in his size, when we looked we found a big

package of them. So my new assistant, gave him one new pair. He asked

for the whole package of underwear, but was told, that we would like to

share with the hundreds of others as well, that really needs them too.

Well, this Katrina guy gave back the one pair we gave him, and walked

off. If I was rich, I'd love to give everyone a whole bunch of things,

but I have to share what I've got, with lots of folks..to give them some

hope..that someone cares, even if its just one item.

 

Im curious, what you think on this??? What would you have done in a

similiar situation?

 

On top of all this volunteering, Today, I taught the 2nd full day of a 3

day workshop, I woke up early to also go pick up and hire one of the

Katrina folks to run my video-camera.. Omar, An elderly husband in his

60s. I paid him $120 bucks for helping out some, over a 2 day periods

at $8/hour.. and on Monday I have a 4am to 10am shift..helping serve

food at George R Brown Convention Center.

 

As of Right Now, Im now thinking about renting a big Commuter Van to

hold 15 folks...as their is a shortage of volunteers willing to

transport and help move-in our " new neighbors " to thier apartments.

During the weekdays and evenings, they are severely shorthanded. Unity

Church has graciously agreed to help me out by donating $100 towards the

rental. and a dear friend, Kim, is sending in more donations to help

take the van out, for a possible 2nd day of transporting folks.

 

I was almost arrested too...because the Katrina helper I hired, never

videotaped before and It was a brand new camera I just got to replace my

old one that was stolen at the Astrodome, and before we " officially "

started our workshop in a public building, he was practicing by simply

adjusting the Zoom In and Out buttons and getting familiar with all the

bells and whistles, and accidently pointed the camera in the direction

of a security guard who got upset and sent in a cop to stop the

videocamera. and in protecting my new friend, the cop was getting very

irritated with me. I later found out, that it was perfectly OK to

videotape my workshop in a public building from one of the top county

officials and friend. Needless to say, I am going to go back and have a

friendly chat with this cop's supervisor, when I have time, and help all

of us get some " clarity " on a few issues. Why? because, I want to make

sure that this cop's bad behavior doesn't hurt folks, like it effected

me and my new friend.

 

What really tugs at my heart strings every day is seeing the misery, the

struggles and disappointments they have faced, while here in Houston,

the 2nd Disaster the Katrina folks are having to endure being forgotten

by the housing folks, and being treated like cattle or prisoners with

lock-down curfews at night. and a whole host of other minor signs of

emotional neglect.

 

But even with such big inconveniences, they are being fed, housed and

now, FINALLY have most of the very basic essentials.

 

I must admit that after 3 weeks of volunteering, it has been one of the

highlights of my life, and I am challenged now, with deciding where

healthy boundaries should exist for me, to continue or not, in regards

to helping them, in an empowering way, in their time of need and

dis-empowering them by looking after them too much. Does this make sense???

 

Challenging because Im constantly re-defining my role. Last night, for

example, after the 2nd day of my workshop, I was not very energetic, so

instead of passing out some items, I chose to just listen to folks and

their stories. What I found out was amazing. I used some NLP I learned

from Dr. LaTourrette a couple of months ago, in Oregon, to help me ask

better questions and help me pay better attention to different folks

needs, wants and motivations. Its amazing what 6 little questions can

do, when you really care about folks, but don't know how to communicate

with them or keep in rapport or even listen as well as you could.

 

I must admit, that I am learning alot that I can use in my life.

Namely, how to be a better listener, communicator and trainer, in my own

way.

 

IMPORTANT UPDATE AND NOTE: The above I wrote a day or so ago, but was

too tired to proofread it...But now..I HAVE AN IMPORTANT Update as of

1:50am Tues. Sept 20th!

 

Tonight (Monday Night) some building official called a meeting of all

3,000 to 4,000 folks..(my eye-ball estimate and may be off) at the

Astrodome/Reliant Arena area and amongst things, he pretty much said

" Rita is coming to Galveston and Houston area, and it could have 25 foot

tidal waves coming and we are giving you 24 hours to leave our Reliant

Building. We have arranged for you to be transported to Arkansas, where

40 churches from Arkansas, we will leave you in their hands "

 

I heard he said Alot more harsh words such as " dont come back to

Houston, Fema can't help you anymore " but I can't verify that.

 

Everyone there is Very Upset that they are virtually being thrown on the

street ...But who really knows? One question that begs to be asked

is: Where is the money really going, from one of America's Biggest

Donation Drives in History??

 

One of the families that I have been watching after, Marie Alva E. and

her family, is wheel chair bound, diabetic and have fallen through the

cracks and are still waiting receiving their housing voucher, and FEMA

money as well, that they registered for..Day after day, their temporary

Post office box is empty.

 

Tonight, was my first night off and early too(7pm), in a long time, and

I was enjoying my first night out at a Columbian Place, and was planning

on going to see Batman Begins, the movie, when I got a call from Marie's

daughter. Her voice was trembling and long pauses and tears and could

hardly speak. All she could say was.... " We are being thrown out and may

be going to Arkansas today or tomorrow " is what we have been told. I

didn't know what had happened. But I told them, I would be there in an

hour. I told the waitress to make my yummy meal to go...and I drove

quickly back to my house first. Why? Because my car was full of boxes of

underwear, shoes, clothes and trash cans. If they were having an

emergency, I wanted to be able to drive them to a hotel or somewhere.

 

On the way there, Im calling everyone I know, to see if anyone had a

truck, to help this one family move. I called Unity folks, I called my

friends, I called some new Katrina friends, and volunteers. I called

some Housing folks...I called some Real Estate Investors. To see what we

could do, to help out these folks with their desparate fight against the

twisted and mis-managed bureacracy.

 

When I got there, everyone was busy packing, angry, irritated or crying

and I had to stay really focused or else I would've done the same. At

the needless torture or neglect some of these folks had to endure, since

getting to Houston. Everyone was complaining, because with all the news

of getting millions flowing into for the Katrina Relief, these 3000 to

4,000 out of 25,000, are being left to fend for themselves, without

getting their FEMA or Housing assistance that was promised to them.

 

Marie's family was so terrified, when I visited with them, they wanted

to leave Houston completely and head to Dallas until the storm is over.

This week, They had already been selecting between 4 or 5 houses or apts

to move into in a few days, hoping their housing voucher would arrive

soon. But now, they were wanting to move to Virginia to get over their

deathly fear of Hurricanes. After a couple of hours of assessing and

comforting them, I convinced them to stay just outside of Houston in a

suburbarn hotel...until things become more clear, if there is a real

emergency or not. and then I offered to rent a van and drive them to

Dallas, as a possible escape route if Rita hits the Houston area.

 

I gave them a several choices of how I, and my network of friends and

strangers, and Unity Church could help them, and left it up to them,

how they wanted my help. An Essence Magazine reporter was there and

Marie was telling it like it was, both in New Orleans and in Houston.

She and I are helping Marie's family find a hotel, until they decide to

Fight, Flight, Freeze, Flee or Stay.

 

I dont pay attention to it, but some folks seems to say that racism is

a small part of it, but from what I have personally witnessed, Everyone

is under high amounts of stress and the ones that seem to handle it

worse, are some of the kids growing impatient and slightly

disrespectful, and the cops and officials whose main priority is crowd

control, not practicing compassion towards our new neighbors, in their

time of need. Folks have been shocked and surprised by the chaos and

crimes in New Orleans and the simple fear of violence and destruction is

very real in most folks minds as well as some level of ignorance too.

 

For me, what matters is, how I can be of service to others, in this time

of need, chaos and challenges and make a positive impact for everyone.I

have helped cops, the Katrina folks, the volunteers, Red Cross, the

medical folks, church folks, and even the County Judge who is co-leading

things with the Mayor!

 

Howard Ceasar, the minister of Unity Church, once told a story..of a man

walking down the beach, right after a really bad storm, and there are

thousands of fish of all sorts and sizes that are dying in the hot sun,

flopping everywhere and he sees a small child frantically throwing a

couple of fish into the ocean, and the man walks up to the child and

asks " Why are you throwing a few fish in the ocean, there is no way,

you will be able to throw All these fish back in the ocean. What

difference does throwing a few fish back in, really make??? The small

child stopped, picked up a fish and threw him back in the ocean and

looked back at the man and said " It made a difference for that one! "

I know I can't help all the 25,000 Katrina-effected folks, but I can

help One, in an extraordinary way. and then repeat the same process

25,000 times

 

My Thanks goes out to my friend and teacher, Donna Eden, David

Feinstein, her family and the Energy Medicine Community around the

world! Her daughter Dondi, Jeff Richards and friends, flew in all the

way from California to help Volunteer, after reading my Week #1 email.

They said it was one of the the most rewarding birthday gifts they could

have ever given themselves. Many energy healers from all over the place,

have been absolutely giving and I am in awe and inspired by.

 

SO WHATS NEEDED NOW???

 

Two things!!!

 

1. Prayer!!!! Please send good energy and prayers to Rita. May it

avoid folks and property as much as possible and may it bless and dance

the night way in the vast ocean floor, until it winds down, effortlessly

and easily. What can your guides, angels and loved ones do, to manifest

this peaceful moment, into the next.

 

2. Send in a few bucks for housing Marie's family and others too that

are caught in the nightmare of not having any housing ready to move into

and possibly to pay for some gas, a hotel and a rental handicap van, in

the slim chance, that Marie and her family has to evacuate to Dallas.

 

Unity Church of Christianity in Houston is taking financial donations

for various Katrina-related efforts. and I am also, namely to put

various funds into Action ASAP, by getting things that folks need Now to

them ASAP!

 

Or Im sure there is a long list of other great places, churches or

organizations that could use your financial donations as well. Red

Cross is NOT among my favorites anymore.

 

Oddly, Red Cross, Harris County, City of Houston was handling the

Astrodome folks. Faith-based churches and organizations were handling

the George R. Brown Convention Center. GRB ran smoothly, addressed

many, if not all of folks basic and emotional needs, with their

" OPERATION: Compassion! " They Interacted with folks, cared for them,

and treated them like brothers and sisters. The other was bogged down

in govn't redtape and a under-funded, dis-organized command structure

For Example!!! TODAY: Monday...I went and volunteered and went to both

housing areas. GRB typically took 2 hours waiting and 1 hour to get a

housing voucher out to folks. Reliant area: 8 hours of waiting a week

ago and still no voucher for 25% of the 20,000 folks!

 

Anyway, Marie's daughter was having a mental break down, of sorts. Her

2 kids were feeling bits of her wrath. I sat down with her, assured her

of my support, shared lots of pros and cons of different choices and

before I left, I gave her a 5 minute back massage with some energy

healing thrown in, that made her forget all of her problems and took all

the stresses away, and brought back her happy, humorous smile again..

 

I could share more eye-popping stories of some other families, that Im

looking out for and helping, but I'm simply beyond tired to type or

think anymore. Its now 6 a.m., as Im writing this, before I go to bed

and wake up at 6::45 am to help Marie get packed, and re-located into a

hotel outside of the Houston city limits, before noon..

 

May Your Intentions be Intense, Your Prayers and Actions be Plenty and

Your Mana filled to the Brim of the Universe,

 

Richard Cinta

281-546-8470

 

 

p.s. Oh!!!! I almost forgot!! For those of you in the Houston area, we

are having another Energy Medicine Study Group at Unity Church on Sunday

25th from 5-7pm. Its near Westheimer and Hillcroft and is offered on a

Love donation basis. I hope to see ya there, UNLESS Aunt " Rita " pays us

a short visit!

 

p.s.s. I apologize, if I seem a bit critical. But believe me, I am

being very consersative of what my comments could've been.