Hola! Estoy aqui! HOORAY! Anyways, last post left off with answering phone calls in Galveston, TX for the Emergency Operations Center. Well we have been doing that ever since but in flucuating hours and weird schedules. One minute we are working 12-hour shifts for three days, then we have been told we are going to be working in 3 shifts of 8-hours. What I mean is that the first pair of Raven 3 come in from 7AM- 3PM, while then the next three teammates relieve them from 3PM-11PM, and then finally the last two (who happen to be myself and Joni) answer the phones from 11PM-7AM. We are starting to get the hang of getting use to the hours. I have especially gotten accostumed to staying up the wee hours of the morning, which definitely makes it difficult to sleep during the day. First couple nights I think I only got 3 hours a sleep per night just because my body was not use to staying up so late. I mean in college I was up late for other reasons like studying, hanging out with friends, or simply being "slap-happy". But in this situation it was working for 8 hours and then sleeping in the Dispatch corner of their office on air mattresses with all the lights on...talk about pretty hard to get some quality shut-eye! Joni and I managed to do just fine though. Even the Dispatch employees kept really quiet when they were working in consideration for us. Although, not only were the lights on in the office BUT there was this screeching, loud pitched tone that was buzzing all the time against the wall. It happened to be the alarm system. Oh well!
So like mentioned before, we were on our 12 hour shift for about 2 days until we got switched to 8 hours. My shift to be completely honest is very boring because no one really is awake to call that early in the morning or during that time. We average on our shift roughly 9 calls per night. It is usually a race to see who can answer the call first. We even have bets on when the first call will ring AND how many will dial the EOC number. On the contrary, it seems like the afternoon and morning shifts seem to get the most calls and have been ringing off the hook these last couple days. Officials have finally opened up the Galveston Island for residents to come back in only one condition...if they obey the curfew. The curfew was from 6PM-6AM but has been bumped up 2 hours to 8PM-6AM. If or any residents disobey this mandate, that means the people of Galveston will be fined $2,000! WOW! That is a ton. Totally not worth it!!
Joni and I have really gotten to know the 2 ladies that have been with us. Mary and Carolyn are super sweet. They, sadly, are victims of the Hurricane. They are currently living in the San Luis hotel about 10 minutes from the station because their houses were affected by the storm. Both are in the process of working things out with FEMA and the Red Cross. It has been really fun hanging out with them watching movies, making power point presentations, and doing Mad Libs with them both. They even have gotten a taste of Joni and I dueting to RENT songs and Sonny/Cher "I Got You Babe".
Slowly but surely more and more stores and places are opening up for people. Kroger, Walgreens, Walmart, and some gas stations are open during the day. We have been able to go out to those places for health and wellness runs and has been great. Our living accomadations now have been switched from the Dispatch small office corner to camping in tents in the Airport parking lot. We were in the Dispatch room for about a week. Now there are 2 other Perry Point teams that are with us doing logistic work with the Forestry department. We couldn't fit all 3 teams in the office so we had to pack up and move our belongings. But all 3 teams are in the parking lot on air mattresses, about 3 people per tent. The disadvantage thing for me when I get the chance to lay down and go to bed is that I am actually sleeping during the day...which means while the heat is blazing down in between 85-90 degrees, I am sweating profusely. Luckily and fortunately there is a nearby air-conditioned tent I have stayed in the last 2 nights.
Food has been wonderful as the Salvation Army is supplying all the meals. What usually happens is we will get breakfast in the morning and then sack lunches and then get in line to get dinner. Tons and tons of organizations are here donating food, water, ice and any other neccessity. It is an easy commute, actually a 20-step walk, to the food line during the day. A breakfast and dinner buffet is set up in the parking lot near us for us to get food during the alotted times. We have gotten a couple toiletry packages both from the Army and Red Cross. Those things definitely come in handy! We have been exposed to the television cameras a couple times while here on the island. Not sure if we made the news or not or the editors used our shots in their stories. On the parking lot there is also free laundry services, very warm shower trailers, and cordial people to talk to. Serveral volunteers from all over have come to help with the relief. I got the chance to talk to a couple of them, one from Mexico, another from Alabama, and one from Arizona...all sharing and coming together in that same bond...helping re-build! It is great to see the ammount of support that is down here.
Our latest update on how much longer we are staying in Galveston is until October 11th. We are then going to be assessed and probably either finishing up 4th round in Galveston OR heading to our orginal project in Baton Rouge, LA. We are not sure, it is basically based on what Chris Quaka (the Wolf Unit Leader) says and we abide by his ruling. Andrea wants to stay down here and finish what we started, but I could careless really what we end up doing to be honest. I just want to help people the best we can and wherever the need might be. Obviously Baton Rouge is needing it hardcore after the tornados during Gustav destroyed a lot of homes and properties, but at the same time Galveston is in shambles as well. I think our Raven 3 team is saying is we are wanting to do more challenging work other than just answer phones all day. We actually want to get our hands dirty. We are just waiting in the wings for further details from the head officials on the island.
As we enter the weekend, we are finally getting a day off which is Sunday. We plan on leaving the island and venturing out to Houston, TX area or somewhere to do something fun. We can't really do anythign in the parking lot where we are staying or leave anywhere because of the curfew, so hopefully we can spend the day with laughter and fun. I will try to send an update on what is going a couple more times before we leave the island. All in all, it has been a great time being the first Americorps team down in Galveston and assisting the victims to our best ability, BUT I would hope after when the phones completely die down we can do more. It is sad not seeing the whole team work together on the site. The rotating shifts is totally messing up our social time with the team. Hopefully we can all sit down and have a nice relaxing time together and re-group. The EOC should have only 2-3 people on shift answer calls at a time, instead of 5-6.
Hope you all understand what we are doing is very rewarding at the same time helpful for these people who are suffering. It is amazing some of these stories people tell you and basically open up to you in times like these. Sometimes I am on the phone with people for 10 minutes just because they are lonely and need someone to chat with. Most of the residents vacated to Austin or Dallas or even out of state. You get great joy out of helping them cope and get through it. Hopefully in the near future that the city will get power throughout and have running water in all areas. There has been a lot of mis-information given by the law enforcement people, the mayor, and even the higher up authorities. It is making the people upset and confused usually resulting in them yelling and expressing their anger towards us answering the phones. We can't do anything about it other than open up an ear or two and get them through it.
More happy faces and less frowns is what is needed on the island.
Chianakas out!
