Bobby was the camp chef and our fist day at camp was spent working with him. Our group and Bobby clicked and worked well together.
The next day we gave Bobby his first day off in something like three months. So what did Bobby do on his day off.....he went and gutted someone elses house. In many respects that summed Bobby up, a big guy with a big heart. Sure Bobby had issue and some people found him a little gruff, but we loved the big guy.
One day after eating our lunch Bobby and I were sitting at a table talking. One of the kids from Pittsburgh came over with a video camera and asked Bobby if he would tell her his story. What follows is what I can remember of this. Anything in [ ] is a note I've added for clarity.
Bobby lost his mother the week before Katrina hit [I think she was murdered but I'm not 100% sure about that]. He lost his "baby" sister and nice to Katrina.
When Katrina hit Bobby was in Jail [I don't know what for and to be honest it's not really important]. The guards and other jail staff left about five days before Katrina hit, leaving the inmates to fend for themselves. The jail and the inmates survived the winds, but then the water began to rise. The inmates broke out as to have stayed in the jail would have meant certain death.
I'm unclear how but all the inmates were rounded up on breaking out and taken to a interstate flyover where they were held. [i remember seeing pictures of this on the TV. Rows of prisoners in white boiler suits sitting on the road with armed guards either end of the road].
Bobby and the rest of the inmates were held on the road for several days. They were given neither food nor water. To drink they would lower their T-shirts into the flood waters that were flowing beneath them, ring them out on their heads and drink the drops as they flowed down their faces. The flood water passing below them contained everything - dead people [both adults and children], dead animals, chemical waste, oil spills, sewage, etc. Bobby broke our in a huge rash and sores as his skin reacted to all the contaminants in the water.
Finally the inmates were boarded onto buses and taken to three other establishments to finish their time. as they got off the buses at these other penitentiaries they were beaten by the guards and made sleep outside in muddy fields for some time.
Upon his release Bobby headed back to New Orleans and to the lower 9th ward in which he'd grown up and lived. He walked for three days around the city and saw no one he knew. They were either dead or displaced.
Bobby eventually found Good News Camp. I think at this point he was sleeping rough in the City Park. He asked about helping at the camp and it was not long before Bobby made his way into the kitchen.
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