The Story of Nova Scotia Acadians Who Came to the Aid of Hurricane Rita Victims
Jude Avery from Larry's River, Nova Scotia wrote the two compositions to follow. One is a moving account of his experiences aiding Cajun victims of Hurricane Rita and the other is a beautiful poem about being Acadian (done in French and English).
The Avery family of Larry's River descends from Claude Petitpas and Catherine Bugaret through their son Claude Petitpas and his second wife Françoise Lavergne.
Jude has granted us permission to publish these compositions in “GENERATIONS”. They are protected through copyright.
In August, 2005, Mississippi and the New Orleans region of Louisiana were devastated by Hurricane Katrina. While victims struggled to cope with varied challenges, and each passing moment critical to their survival, we were stirred by the scope of the painful struggle of these people. Television images flooded our viewing screens for days and weeks thus sensitizing the world to the reality of the forces of nature and the havoc created by its merciless carnage. In the distant corner of Nova Scotia, where many forefathers of the Louisiana Cajuns originated, these images resonated deeply. These were “our people” who were suffering, and we were so comfortable in homes on dry land as we were readying ourselves to prepare jams, jellies and pickles for winter supplies.
One Acadian philanthropist with international aid experience was Pomquet native Clarence DeYoung. With the usual support of his loving wife May Ann, Clarence listened to the news with interest and with an eye on involvement. Before the dust began to settle, he was off to a large make-shift relief centre set up at the Astrodome in Houston Texas. While there, he saw first-hand the suffering of all those affected by this tragic storm, and also the varied needs of its victims. Clarence was especially moved by the pain he had seen in the eyes of his Cajun cousins who found themselves without homes, vehicles or jobs to go back to. Just as he was beginning to understand the magnitude of this great disaster and realizing the enormity of the task ahead in relocating and re-establishing so many victims, the unimaginable happened. Approximately one month after the Katrina catastrophe, and people still reeling from its horrendous effects, meteorologists waved more red flags with the formation and trajectory of a new hurricane, named Rita. It would surely make landfall west of New Orleans threatening the entire Louisiana coast and parts of Texas. That it did with another knockout punch, this time to a rural region along the coast of Louisiana with damages extending to the Texas border.
Many relief workers and services were thus removed and evacuated from Houston, and Clarence found himself on a flight home to safety from this new storm of destruction. In the comforting confines of his home, Clarence was left distraught from his observations and new revelations. He had been so moved by his experience that he could not accept passivity to the needs of many hurting souls and felt a call from within. At the time of his return home, an Acadian celebration called “Grou Tyme” was occurring on Halifax's waterfront where Francophone musicians were rocking the stages in a celebrating mood. Cajun musician Hadley Castille had just rendered his gut-wrenching rendition of “200 Lignes” when Clarence arrived to hear and watch our people celebrate our culture in song, laughter, food and dance. We would then return to the comfort of our homes and families to enjoy a quiet end-of-summer evening. Though being from a long-line of fun-loving people, he felt a discomfort within and a need to shake a little of this comfort from us.
On the sidelines he spotted myself and a small group of revelers from the tiny coastal inlet of Larry's River, possibly the smallest Acadian region of l'Acadie. With music blaring and noisy celebrations sending waves across the harbour and beyond, Clarence began to decompress. He shared his emotional experiences of the past few weeks and asked us if we were interested in participating in some form of relief work for our Cajun cousins. When asked to volunteer for something large-scale, excuses quickly surface. Mine were, “I would love to, but I lack the financial resources to do so.” Also, “we lost our 18 year old son tragically only 8 months previous and cannot leave my wife alone for any length of time.” Thinking this was enough excuses to get me “out of this one”, he readily removed my crutches and I fell on my heart and head. He requested that we meet that week to decide on whether or not we should do something as a group.
Having agreed to at least discuss our possibilities, a meeting was held that week in Pomquet with approximately 20-30 people in attendance. Here we listened to Clarence describe his experiences and the scene as it unfolded for him in Houston, Texas. So moved were we by his account of what was happening to our Cajun cousins, that no one left the meeting without committing to some form of assistance, be it fund-raising or going to do on-site volunteer work. He then suggested that two people from the group, with contacts with Louisiana Cajuns, go spend a week on the ground and make contacts with volunteer multi-denominational church groups to see what we could do. Since I was a personal friend of Cajun musician Waylon Thibodeaux and his parents Elgin and Evelyn and Bill Gerrior had many acquaintances from previous genealogical research and presentations in the area, we were chosen to do so. The expenses of this visit were born completely by Clarence and his wife Mary Ann. Off we were even before excuses for not going could be born. My wife agreed to spend that week with our daughter and so all was fine on the home front.
What awaited Bill and I was far beyond our imagination. Our first destination was New Orleans. The once vibrant city of music, lights, art and history now resembled a nuclear explosion zone with devastation, eeriness, sadness and pain far beyond our imaginations. Lights were out in at least 85% of the city, the lodging in the countless hotels/motels almost non-existent, and buildings either toppled or evacuated due to flooding.
Fortunately, lodging was found late at night and the following day we were ready to meet relief groups who would give us prearranged tours of the devastated areas of the 9th and 5th Wards. What we saw there was like a fiction story developed to arouse the interest of its reader. The smell, the brokenness of homes and people, the stories of victims and the scattering of lives was horrendous. What could we do and where do we start? After thinking nothing could match this, we were off to Houma, the home of Elgin Thibodeaux. Here we were warmly greeted, and a home base was established. From Houma we had prearranged visits to the Bayous and then westward to the towns of Erath, Abbeville and as far as the town of Cameron. Here we saw more disaster, but instead of being in city confines such as seen in New Orleans, we found small towns and rural communities where pain was evident, but assistance, regardless of scope or depth, would be felt and appreciated.
We remember visiting a Guedry family in Grand Caillou whose mobile home had suffered extensive damage from the deadly storm surge. We were always introduced by our contact person, in this case Elgin Thibodeaux, representing the Annunziata Catholic Church in Houma. When we told them that we there to assess the damage to see if we could help, then we would return in the Spring to lend a hand, the reaction, though appreciated, was more of “yes, sure!” When we returned months later with furniture, they could not believe their eyes and tears of joy and warm hugs were plentiful.
After a week of continuous early morning to late evening tours, meetings with Rita victims and endless pictures and recorded interviews, Bill and I returned to Nova Scotia. We were suddenly as moved and determined as Clarence DeYoung was after his Houston experience to get involved in helping our Cajun families. A subsequent meeting was held, again in Pomquet, to give an account of our discoveries and show pictures and interviews of victims and relief workers, be they Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Baptist or others.
With the aid of technology, we were able to bring Louisiana and the faces of a suffering Cajun population to Nova Scotia, spiced with a first-hand, on the ground, account of the challenges of the post-disaster lives of our cousins. Nothing more was needed, and that evening sleeves got rolled-up and fund-raising would begin ASAP. After these efforts Clarence and Mary Ann would head a team of volunteers to return to designated communities and do what was possible in assisting those prioritized cases as presented by the abovementioned church groups.
Winter came and went and fund raising was successful in meeting our goal of $25,000. Clarence and Mary Ann then selected a team of 9 volunteers and off we went, at their expense, to Louisiana brimming with enthusiasm, but tempered by a degree of consternation. We landed in New Orleans and Clarence immediately rented a delivery truck and car, purchased tools and we were off to our motel in Houma with a prearranged meeting with Elgin Thibodeaux upon our arrival. I must note here that all expenses were paid for by the DeYoungs and the entire $25,000 (plus a countless personal amount added by them) was used in the direct purchase of goods and materials for victim relief. Once we had identified our first-day visits, our team of 9 was divided into two groups -one to do purchasing, pick-ups and deliveries and the other to do manual tasks such as painting, act as construction helpers and clean-up crews.
For two weeks we purchased and delivered furniture, appliances and bedding and worked hard at the assorted tasks asked of us. We were even invited to send two of our members to attend a re-burial service at Abernathy Baptist Church Cemetery on the outskirts of the town of Creole to re-inter some of the countless cemetery vaults found floating in various parts of the region. This was done in the absence of their church that was destroyed by Rita. We also spent an entire day delivering and doling out home supplies at a make-shift centre in the town of Creole. We experienced some who fell outside the parameters of established relief aid policies despite their needs and some whose health and/or age prevented required efforts to get re-settled. Others were trying to “go it alone” and experiencing exhausting financial and physical demands. For those who fell under our care, we did all we could to deliver our services with love and dignity. People were so moved by our efforts that they often treated us as saviours and were brought to tears by our generosity. Wherever we went, we were immediately treated as family and food was shared, even when we knew this had to be taxing on them. Endless stories and accounts of their past and their knowledge of history were readily re-counted as we worked and we were gracefully educated to their version of history. We were often amazed at the survival of the French language that resembled ours and the fondness with which it was spoken. We also amazed them when some of us were able to understand and converse with them in words and expressions that they thought only they used, ie. “Viens ouère ma maisogne. Elle est ecrasée comme du machcoui”. When someone understands those simple expressions, you have crossed the timelines and lapsed into a period of history that dates back to the settlement of Port Royal and earlier to King Henry IV of France. What a great moment it was for us and for them to discover this!
The prayerful words of St. Francis of Assisi, “it is in giving that we receive” is a very meaningful prayer to be believed and shared. For me and for other team members as well, it was a time of healing and a time of a discovering of purpose. The commitment and love of Clarence and Mary Ann, the collective will and desire of each group member to share and bring smiles on the faces of a saddened people was all an experience unequalled in our past. Although we have had few occasions to reminisce about those memorable moments, we all feel a deep sense of gratitude for being given the opportunity to live and feel the emotions of this experience and we will cherish its moments forever.
Team members were Clarence and Mary Ann DeYoung, Jean Delorey, Mary Ann Melanson, Keigan Doiron, Tim Robertson, Pierre Boucher, Bill Gerrior and Jude Avery. This is Jude Avery's account of the postHurricane Rita experience as I remember it. I apologize for errors or omissions that may be present in my story that I feel is worthy of telling and sharing.