She has been at the forefront of rebuilding St Bernard. When the federal government failed to respond, she worked with the local oil refineries to bring in trailers to use as schools in order to help families return. Tears well up in her eyes as she speaks of those early days of the disaster.
“We had kids living in trailers, we had kids living in tents. People didn’t have running water or anything. Parents would bring their kids to school in pyjamas in the morning and we’d change them at school,” she said.
However, even for those who returned, everything had changed.
“It’s been longer getting rid of that anger, because we haven’t seen too much of a sense of normalcy returning. It’s been too catastrophic. When you lose everything, you’ve lost people and friends, you’ve lost homes, you’ve lost the sense of community that you’ve been involved with your entire life, and you felt that nobody cared enough, nobody would do something about it,” she said.
“I’m 61 years old. This has been the defining moment of my life,” she said. “Everything we talk about is before Katrina and after Katrina. I think for people of my generation, it will always be that way. On a personal level, it will never be buried.”
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