Reporter, social worker, and missionary

I listened to a radio report about life at Scenic Trails, a post-Katrina FEMA trailer park. Hopelessness and despair ran rampant in the park. Several of the people the reporter interviewed talked about wanting to kill themselves, but hadn't done it yet. It was painful to listen to. What the reporter did really well is document the many layers of issues that the residents are dealing with and was very clear that this wasn't an easy or a quick fix.

In the segment the reporter talked to residents, a social worker, and a missionary. The reporter reported on the conditions, the social worker said that the residents needed to move out to escape the poverty and despair. The missionary stated that conditions were pretty hopeless, that residents come out but there appears to be little change. When the missionary was asked about the suicide comments, they attributed the comments to attempts at manipulation by the residents, admitting, "the only reason they are saying that is that they want something from you".

All three had a message of salvation. The reporter believed that if she were able to create an awareness of the plight of these people, people on the outside would be compelled to help. The social worker believes that if they can just get enough money to break away from the pit of despair they would be healed, but there is very little if any money to be able to deliver them. The missionary couple believed, even through his cynicism, that if the residents would just embrace their version of the gospel, they would be delivered.

The plight of these poor people is most likely a mixture of the three. Some of their problems are that they have been forgotten, they don't have the money to spring themselves from this environment, and enough belief in themselves and a God who would love to heal them and give them the strength to move ahead.

All the while they sit stuck in their misery.