“ My brother named their new house Hallelujah. My house is going to be named Freedom.” CARMALITA SYLVE HURRICANE KATRINA SURVIVOR
FLASHBACK TO 2010
Planada homeowners Maria & Roberto Rior.
“My dad is a contractor so I do know something about construction, and it’s nice to work with my hands in this way for a change,” she said. Volunteer Tom Mosier, from Show Low, Arizona, not only enjoys meeting homeowners, but loves working with other volunteers. “I love seeing the expressions on their faces when they learn something they didn’t think they could do,” said Mosier, who worked in construction for 40 years. “I tell volunteers that if they serve with MDS for a year they’ll never have to hire someone to fix their house.”
Top: Planada homeowner Jose Vasquez. Above: MDS Crew Leader Tom Mosier installs cabinets in the home of sisters Kaylin Bertelsen and Julie Hoglan.
PRAISE GOD FOR COMMUNITY
telling my grandkids about it.” “And now my family can come back. I thought it was just like a hopeless cause and I would have to move to the city. MDS, I can’t say enough about them. I thank God for them every day.” “You know, we’re finally getting where we’re supposed to be. We were lost. But we’re going to prevail. Praise God.”
A SAFE SPACE Jose Vasquez, another Planada resident, also recalled the traumatic night the flood struck. After getting off work at a restaurant after midnight, he tried to return home, and found the roads were closed. The closer he got to Planada—the worse it became. “I saw cars were just stopped,” he said. “People didn’t know where to go. They didn’t have anywhere to go.” That was the night he realized how dangerous a flood can be. “When something like this happens, you see how valuable it is to be in a safe space,” he said. “You could feel you were very unsafe.” His home took in three feet of water. MDS volunteers have been able to install a new door, raise or replace all the flooring, rebuild part of the bathroom and kitchen, and make other repairs.
“The volunteers are so committed,” said, Vasquez, who moved to the U.S. when he was 14 years old. “The volunteers have big hearts.” When he moves into his newly repaired home, he’s going to cook up a big pot of chicken soup. “That’s very traditional in my country of Mexico because chicken is what’s available. I even bought a new pot and it’s all ready. I’m going to have my mother come and stay for a few days.” He looked around his house and smiled. “It’s small—not a lot of room—but it makes me feel good,” he said. “I’d like to have a huge house someday—and it’s okay to dream. But right now I have to say, I’m a lucky person because this is mine.”
LOUISIANA, 2010 – “Where I’m from out in Grand Bayou, we’ve been there about 300 years, our community,” said Carmalita Sylve. “And I’m excited to come back home. I miss it, you know. It’s my heritage.” “Growing up there, we were like in a world by our own. We ate shrimp just about every day. And I always thought that the outside world ate shrimp like we did. I remember working on my daddy’s boat with my brothers. We’d go trawling during the summer and we could just hang over the side and play in the water. We’d see the dolphins and we would feed them. And my dad would yell at us, ‘don’t feed those dolphins my fish!’ I was
This story is excerpted from “Many Hands,” a new MDS photo book of moments experienced by volunteers and disaster survivors over the past two decades. Available at mds.org/books
STORY: SUSAN KIM PHOTOS: PAUL HUNT
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behind the hammer
behind the hammer
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