Greetings & Welcome!

Hope for the Future

My name is Margaret Saizan and I live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  I have started this weblog as an online community & place to offer inspiration, encouragement & support for survivors of Gulf Coast Hurricanes. Please submit your favorite healing quotes, inspirational sayings, poems, scriptures, photographs, your own words of encouragement - anything that you feel would be healing, helpful, supportive.

Please only submit photographs that you have taken yourself, or that are in the public domain, or that you have permissions to post - and please provide proper photo credits when appropriate. You may submit these to surviving-hurricane-katrina@hotmail.com and I will gladly post them to the blog.

Please stop by and visit me at my other weblogs:

Hurricane Wilma - Currently tracking the storm's landfall, approach & aftermath. 

Hurricane Katrina: A Bloggers Personal Journal - this blog started as a storm journal on the eve of Katrina but has since morphed. There is little bit of everything there - personal insights, forwards from friends, helpful resources & news updates.

Hurricane Rita: Tracking the Storm's Approach, Landfall, & Aftermath

margaretsaizan.com - A portal to all of my projects on the web

Blessings for Your Journey,

Margaret Saizan

Comments

[Tim]

Wow, just surfed in and found this treasure trove of kind thoughts and good deeds. I'm a blogger, too, and thank you for writing about New Olreans.
Peace,
Tim

[Magz]

Very nice blog. The picture of the kitten just lifted up my whole day. It just goes to show how even in something so horrible as this, it's still possible for miracles to occcur. My thoughts and prayers are out to anyone that was affected by Hurricane Katrina. Please take the time to visit our class blog concerning Hurricane Katrina and leave a post/message for us. Thanks, and god bless. ~Magz

[Gerry Murak]

Hurricane Katrina, Mumbai, India Floods and Tsunami Inspire Addition to "Who Art In Heaven" Series
Disasters can cause us to feel helpless. A photo on the picture page of a newspaper, a news broadcast or magazine can be informative as well as cause us to question of how we can be of some assistance. For me, a series of events which started with a photo in the Buffalo news picture page in August of children looking out the window of their modest and fragile home against the rising flood waters of Mumbai, India.

In the order listed below are my documented reflections on http://www.murak.blogs.com/ourfatherswhoartinheaven regarding the victims of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the floods in Mumbai (Bombay, India), and the fourth anniversary of 9/11:

8/09 - Flood Victims in Mumbai (Bombay) India to Benefit from Book Signing

8/14 - India Day Mela - an Education Beyond College

8/17 - Natural Disasters, Plane Crashes, Bombings & War - Finding the Common Denominator

9/01 - Flood Victims of Katrina are More Than a Number

9/11 - 9/11 (see my posting below on 9/11)

In turn, these postings caused me to think how quickly the victims of the recent Tsunami and their surviving loved ones, family and friends have almost disappeared from any media coverage. All of this represents too many individuals who lost their lives too suddenly and are quickly forgotten.

My vision is to build a legacy for all of these individuals through a fund for the neediest surviving orphaned children of future disasters. "Our Disaster Victims Who Art In Heaven" will be the future title in the "Who Art In Heaven Series". The stories of the life lessons of the lost loved ones left behind in the hearts and minds of the survivors of disasters, will be compiled into a future book(s). In turn, the profits from this specific title will be donated directly to such a fund.

My Father, who art in heaven, always taught me through his work and example to "leave things better than you find them". Each journey, into continual improvement, starts with a single step. Your thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated in guiding this new journey. "We all have it in our hearts to heal one another", Carlos Santana 9/13/2005 - World Music Awards 2005.
Gerry Murak
gerry.murak@OFWAIHF.org

[philhalliburton]

Thanks for your concerns for others. We must continue to pray and helpout Katrina victims anyway that we can.

[Tami Curnow]

We are the great American melting pot, and yet, even in times of crisis we can not seem to get passed our petty differences. We are all human beings, regardless of race, color, religious beliefs, etc. Why can't we all just get along and help each other, not just in times of crisis, but ALWAYS! To those souls who lost their lives, their homes, their families, their jobs, their schools, their pets....everything to Katrina: Have FAITH! That is the hardest thing in the world to do when all appears hopeless, but having faith in yourself, in life and in others can bring about miracles every day. It's up to each individual to remember how precious life is, ALL LIFE! If each of us does that, then maybe we can finally get past our petty differences. Maybe then, each of us can cherish ALL life and give it the respect is deserves. Once that happens, times of crisis will bring out more and more of the good things, (stories of hope and love), and less and less of the bad, (stories of looters and people taking advantage of bad situations). Let's work together to create a world where we all treat life as the beautiful gift that it is!

[thats great~]

great

[bob falconer]

how can we help

[Robert F Zahara]

Hello All;
I received this email from a friend of mine in Misssissippi. I hope that you can help. The following is the email:

I tried to get this on the web site but am not sure it went, if it did not make it , would one of you please put it on our yahoo site, for me,, thanks

Just in case your station outside of Mississippi is not giving you what you want to hear,, I have news from the local PEOPLE, not the news media,,, there has been looting in Hattiesburg, and some of the larger towns,,, the police have been over whelmed just trying to regulate traffic at the FEW gas stations open,,, so they are not paying much attention to the starving populations,,,, the smaller towns like mendenhall, Prentiss, Columbia, silver creek, kiln,, just to name a few,,,, have really pulled together,, but they lack Water to drink and cook with,, they lack Gasoline to run there generators, Food is abundant in the small towns as all of us put up canned goods every year, that is how us poor folks survive the low wages in MISSISSIPPI,,, but the US military is delivering MRE.s to the these people, they need water and gas, the GOVT is out of touch with most of the people in MISSISSIPPI and I can't forget the VERY small towns in LA,,,, new orleans is on the news because the dumb ass news media thinks that is the only story... we also have a lot of hunters down here in the small towns, everyone also carries a gun down here,, we dont need the 82nd air borne down here is our small towns with shoot to kill orders,,, maybe in NO and on the coast but not in our small communities, we take care of our own stuff,,,, Just like you would in your small communities if they were hit like this,,, I know the worst damage was on the COAST, but the small towns lost everything, they are back in the late 1800's,, no phone, no running water, no elect,, no TV,, and the batteries are running out on the radios,AAA and C batteries, some D cell,, phones are dying, the towers are down,,, this is just a few things, if you want to do something, pick up a case of water and send it to a small town in Mississippi or a SMALL town in LA,,, get your map out, pick a small town, look up the zip code at USPS.com and mail the water to the Police department in the small city with a note who you are or not, and just tell them it is from the Veterans of the 8-4 Artillery,,,, that will help more than any thing,, also baby formula, and diapers,,, soap, deodorant,, any small thing, remember the care packages we use to get it. do the same thing the USPS will deliver it to whom ever you send it to, send it to the Postmaster at that small town, believe me everyone comes to the Post office every day if they can,,,,, I just gave my generator to a person that my wife works with,, they have running water but no Elec... think about it , if everyone of you mail something to each little town,, the USPS has to deliver it, I know I work for the bastards that make us,,, I will help deliver it believe me,,,I love all of you guys, you do what your heart tells you to do,, there are a lot of Retired veterans down here also so I know they will be proud to get anything you send, one more thing pick out a town south of Hattiesburg, the rest of us is not fine but we can SURVIVE better than they can,, thanks bob Slater.

Thank you for takeing the time to read this and can help.

Robert R. Zahara

[crn]

There's a new message board/support group for Katrina. www.katrinatalk.org Come over and give some support and get some, too. Mrs Saizan--would you mind adding a link? It will be helpful to people.--Thanks

[Ulrike Gartler]

My dear Mrs Saizan,
Thanks to your brave journal
I have been able to be with
you people in heart and mind,right here from the centre of Vienna.
It is so sad that this should happen - my son is
named after famous citizen
Louis Armstrong and I always planned to visit New Orleans one day.Now I´ll never see the old New Orleans.What can one say in the face of such disaster?
The compassion and best
wishes of many,many people all over the world are
with the people of Louisiana
and Mississippi - as are
mine.Kind regards from Ulrike, Austria