I thought that I knew everything there was to know about the hurricane.I have watched every news show on cable since before it hit. I listen to talk radio all day. But nothing can really prepare you for the reality when you hug the survivors, hold the babies, and see so much pain and shock in their eyes.

The red tape I went through just to volunteer was crazy, I finally decided to go around the system and just show up. It worked. The convention center is set up with a bunch of services, hair stylists, medical triage, pharmacy, cafeteria, child care, baby supplies, toiletries, family reunions, clothes, showers, chapel, three living areas with cots and large screen TVs, tables for FEMA, health and human services, social security and red cross services including debit cards, vouchers, one-way air and bus travel, housing, and school registration.

The lines are long, but everyone is very patient and grateful.The first woman I helped today was a 70 year old woman in a wheelchair.She had stayed in her house in New Orleans as it flooded. She just kept shaking her head in disbelief of what she's been through. She was afraid to leave her cot and her belongings, but I needed to take her to get a new id bracelet. You could see the apprehension as she carefully zipped up her bag and left it on her cot. There just isn't any place safe for them to put all the things that they're being given. One woman with a baby had a pile with a crib, stroller, swing just piled up next to her cot.

The line of new survivors there to register for the first time kept growing. These are people who had the resources to leave on their own, either driving or in hotels, now needing help as their money has run out. There was a man in the front of the line holding his dell laptop over his shoulder. He was obviously not one of the poor from the convention center, but he was still in need. About half of that new line looked the same way. All of the survivors, even these more well off ones, just look dazed and unsure what to do next. I helped a mom with a very tiny baby while she was preparing her bottle.

The baby was about 10 lbs and when I put her up on my shoulder, her tiny hand patted me on the back and she laid her head against me. Human touch seemed to mean so much to all of them, especially the children. Her mom had remained with another mom, both with three children each who had been separated from their husbands, but at least they know where they are. Still they're concerned because the husbands are scared and all alone in another city. I helped them with finding travel arrangements so they could be together.

They had all been in the New Orleans Convention Center during the worst of it. Both Moms talked at the same time telling me how awful it was. They couldn't stop talking to listen to each other, just letting it all out was a flood in itself. They also just kept shaking their heads as they spoke. They were so scared for their children, and they believed they would all die there. They told me about the murders, rapes and death, but said that those same violent people now in a situation where they were getting food and water and with order were completely different.

The violent people were evacuated along with the others, although their weapons were confiscated. They didn't fear them anymore.Every man, woman and child that I met there were sweet, grateful and gentle, they just needed guidance and help. I can't imagine any of them as criminal animals.The women told me that they had to watch while empty boats, helicopters, flatbeds and national guards drove by them for days, no one stopping to take them away, and the feeling of helplessness not knowing if they'd ever get out. The Police Chief promised the national guard would come to get them, but they didn't. They said they would never return to New Orleans again. In their words there wasn't anger, it was betrayal, despair and disbelief. They lost everything and now just are lost.

The next mom I helped needed me to carry her baby to the medical triage.As soon as I picked him up I could tell he had a fever, he was very hot and I kept thinking about the E-Coli in the flood water. He just melted into my arms, and she was so worried that he had gotten something from the water. She didn't know what to do when the fever spiked at night, she had no tylenol and no way to get his fever down. The dr gave her medicine for him. They were staying in a hotel to sleep but needed to come for the services during the day. Then I was going to leave, but this little 4 year old boy stopped me in the row of cots and told me that he had no one to play with. I asked if he wanted me to read a book and he was very excited. We read 4 books and then I told him that I needed to go. His whole face and body just drooped with sadness. He gave me a tight, warm hug and didn't want to let me go. I promised I would come back and see him again. He was so sad that I couldn't stop thinking about him and I couldn't live with myself leaving him there. I ended up going back about an hour later just to see him. I found him and he lit up when he saw me and ran over to hug me. I asked his grandma if I could take him for the afternoon, but she didn't want me to. She was afraid of the way he's acted since the hurricane. He is so attached to the volunteers and they all give him special gifts. It worries her. He was happier this time when I left which made me feel much better.

I thought that I couldn't feel more sadness and anger over the natural and man-made disaster of this hurricane, but now I feel it so much more personally. Now I have felt the touch and seen into the eyes of undescribable despair. We all need to do whatever we can to make sure that the man-made portion of this disaster never happens again. Sorry the pictures are so grainy, I used my phone. This is the baby with the fever, Isaac, and the little boy, Ezra.

--Lainey

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Lainey Melnick, e-PRO

Austin, Texas

Broker, Designated REALTOR

Your link to Austin real estate:

512-347-9935, 512-799-0626 cell