HOUSTON – Mental health specialists working with children who fled Hurricane Katrina and then endured evacuation to the Superdome say some of the children will suffer post-traumatic stress disorders, much like soldiers back from battle.
Texas officials are ramping up efforts to provide counseling for the children and their equally traumatized parents.
But a group of local wo-men, working independently of any government or Red Cross effort, has started its own project to help children express what they’ve experienced.
| Some of the pictures drawn by young hurricane evacuees can be seen online at www. katrinaskids project.org. |
Four women who have volunteered to watch children at Houston’s Reliant Center shelter to give parents a break are encouraging children to draw pictures to vent their emotions, hoping that will help them avoid problems later. The women call the art effort Katrina’s Kids Project.
Ashley Bryan said she was stunned at the stories the children told of survival and the graphic pictures they drew.
“Maybe their parents are still so stressed and grieving that maybe they haven’t had time to listen to their kids,” Bryan said. “The kids are almost desperate to talk about what they did. It seems very therapeutic for them, a true emotional release.”
The children’s pictures are full of rain clouds, helicopters with rescue baskets, overturned cars, stick figures described as frightened, and dark images of the Superdome.
Marlon, 11, depicts the Superdome and two figures, one identified as “Hungry People,” the other as “Scared People.” A drawing by Elisa, 13, shows the Superdome with the captions “We need food and water” and “Please let us go.”
Before drawing, many children tell about the horrors of being trapped inside the Superdome. A common theme, Bryan said, is protection: that their mother protected them against “bad people” or that they protected her.
“It’s incredible how desperate they are to talk about bravery at the Superdome,” Bryan said.
One child told of being trapped in the family home as the water got higher, holding onto her mother’s hand until the mother slipped under the water and disappeared.
The child’s picture was of heaven, with a note to her mother: “I’ll see you in the white clouds.”
Bryan, Johna DiMuzio, Carol Gunn and Janine Schueppert have collected more than 650 drawings from the children. Sitting in a corner of Reliant Arena, where 1,650 evacuees are still living, they listen to the children tell their stories and then invite them to make a drawing.
The motto of Katrina’s Kids Project is “Hope … one crayon at a time.” None of the founding women has any background in child psychology except the expertise that comes with being parents. “We’re just moms,” Schueppert said.
Katrina’s Kids Project is using the children’s artwork for a quilt – sewn by adult evacuees – as well as on T-shirts, a calendar, a tote bag and postcards sold on the project’s Web site. Profits from the merchandise are to help children affected by the hurricane.
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