Kenneth [pictured here in the black top standing next to Bobby] is someone who you can't think of but your face breaks into a smile. He stayed in the bed next to me in the dorms and frequently you would go to go to bed and find that he'd left some gift to take home for my boys.
Kenny worked in a local restaurant so some days we didn't see him as much as we would have liked. He like Bobby was from the lower 9th ward. I'm unsure at what point he and his wife got out of the lower 9th, if this was before the industrial levee broke or after. Anyway he and he wife became separated with no means of contacting each other. Kenny ended up at the New Orleans' Superdome. While this was surrounded by water the raised access roads meant that it was still accessible, hence it was used as a place of refuge.
Kenny quickly assessed the situation in the Superdome and left after only a couple of hours. He spent the next couple of days sheltering on one of the raised freeways that surround the area around the Superdome. Kenny was eventually picked up by the American Red Cross who managed to repatriate him with his wife and grown up daughters. They were put on a bus, given a small amount of money for food and sent to one of the receiving towns for evacuees from New Orleans. They eventually ended up in Houston which is where many of the other refugees from New Orleans still are.
Kenny's wife was still in Houston. Kenny had come back to New Orleans to find work and a place to stay. The finding work bit of this plan he'd managed but finding somewhere to stay that was affordable was proving difficult. A number of times he'd come back to the camp with a big smile on his face as he thought that he'd finally managed to secure a place only to be later disappointed as the deal fell through.
I guess Kenny was fairly typical in that men have returned to the city to find work and homes to stay in, but their families are dispersed. I pray and hope that Kenny has found a good place to live and that he and his wife are now back together.
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