{"id":97608,"date":"2021-10-06T19:42:30","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T23:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icnarelief.org\/?p=97608"},"modified":"2021-12-15T17:06:54","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T22:06:54","slug":"diary-of-a-field-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icnarelief.org\/blog\/diary-of-a-field-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"Diary of a Field Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
Diary of a Field Worker<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n New Orleans, LA – Hurricane Ida\u00a02021<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The residents of Louisiana are struggling to rebuild after hurricane Ida, a category 4 storm with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. On Aug. 29, 2021, on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ida left more than 1 million residents without power.\u00a0After the\u00a0second most devastating hurricane\u00a0after Katrina,\u00a0I was requested to assist\u00a0ICNA Relief Disaster Relief\u00a0Services\u00a0team in\u00a0Louisiana.\u00a0\u00a0Upon my arrival, a few miles from the airport,\u00a0I witnessed and was shocked at the amount of the destruction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The first thing I saw was a gas station in the middle of a busy intersection without a roof.\u00a0 As I continued my trip to Baton Rouge, where\u00a0the ICNA Relief Disaster Relief Services team was stationed, I saw trees\u00a0on\u00a0homes\u00a0and\u00a0on streets blocking traffic. I saw\u00a0pieces of\u00a0lumbar\u00a0from fences and siding\u00a0and trash everywhere.\u00a0\u00a0Families\u00a0were\u00a0still in shock from seeing\u00a0their\u00a0homes\u00a0reduced to rubble.\u00a0\u00a0The amount of destruction caused in a matter of a few days…one cannot fathom.\u00a0\u00a0I thought to myself, \u201cAlhamdulillah, I have no right to complain.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n After 6 days, I\u00a0was\u00a0more\u00a0mentally\u00a0exhausted\u00a0than physically.\u00a0\u00a0Hearing the stories\u00a0from\u00a0homeowners\u00a0and\u00a0seeing entire neighborhoods collapsed hits you\u00a0in a different way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Alhamdulillah, we received the honor to help out a Muslim sister whose house was completely demolished by a single tree. She was\u00a0asleep\u00a0with her son as 150 mph winds uprooted a tree and crashed down on top of them.\u00a0Mother and\u00a0son were found in their bathroom as both floors sandwiched her bedroom.\u00a0Later we learned that\u00a0she\u00a0did not\u00a0have insurance.\u00a0\u00a0She, like many\u00a0more people\u00a0in the same boat, had no place to stay and no way to rebuild.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Wherever we went, there was someone that needed\u00a0immediate assistance.\u00a0 Though having\u00a0safety protocols\u00a0in place and assessing\u00a0job sites\u00a0prior to scheduling, there were still some\u00a0families\u00a0that\u00a0would see us working and ask for assistance.\u00a0 We would oblige as much as possible because we want to show them what Islam is about: helping\u00a0neighbors and serving community.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This one act of kindness\u00a0went a long way.\u00a0 A team member I was with didn\u2019t have cash\u00a0to purchase his food at a\u00a0convenient\u00a0store.\u00a0 The\u00a0gentleman\u00a0behind him saw his ICNA Relief vest\u00a0and\u00a0paid for all his food because, \u201cyou were there when I needed you so I want to give back.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Helping after a disaster may be daunting and you may be\u00a0thinking, \u201cI don\u2019t\u00a0have\u00a0an experience in disaster relief.\u201d\u00a0But\u00a0you don\u2019t need experience in helping people when they are down.\u00a0 And that is what we did.\u00a0\u00a0We helped\u00a0them to\u00a0stand up\u00a0again.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In addition to removing fallen trees and debris from homes, we had food distributions\u00a0and health fairs\u00a0as well.\u00a0 Hundreds of people came to get food and medicine as\u00a0grocery\u00a0stores, doctor offices and pharmacies were closed.\u00a0 No one should go without the essentials and Alhamdulillah ICNA Relief was there to provide the\u00a0necessities to survive.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n All the members of the DRS team had\u00a0a passion in them to\u00a0help\u00a0rebuild communities.\u00a0\u00a0After speaking\u00a0with various\u00a0masjids, we\u00a0received\u00a0amazing support; many\u00a0came out to\u00a0volunteer.\u00a0We had a group from Texas about 18 people strong.\u00a0Local\u00a0teenagers\u00a0also wanted to volunteer so much that they\u00a0didn\u2019t want to leave the job sites!\u00a0\u00a0The DRS team and volunteers\u00a0helped\u00a0because of a shared goal: to help those in need when they needed it.<\/span>\u00a0It is truly a life changing experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text] Diary of a Field Worker New Orleans, LA – Hurricane Ida\u00a02021 The residents of Louisiana are struggling to rebuild after hurricane Ida, a category 4 storm with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. On Aug. 29, 2021, on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ida left more than 1 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":93901,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[147],"class_list":["post-97608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-field-worker"],"yoast_head":"\n