National Native American Team Travels the Gulf Region

A national fact-finding team of American Indians with the United Methodist Church left for the gulf coast region on September 18. The team members included Wade Hunt, Rev. Dwayne Lowry, Rev. Sylvia Collins, Tony Locklear, George Locklear, and Darlene Jacobs. Receiving a mandate from the General Board of Global Ministry, the focus of the trip was to assess the extent of damage left by Hurricane Katrina within native communities.

Many times during crisis situations, Indian people tend to be left out or overlooked said Darlene Jacobs, the Executive Director of the Southeastern Jurisdictional Agency for Native American Ministries (SEJANAM). The group first traveled to Mobile , Alabama visiting native communities of the Alabama Choctaw. There the team met an evacuee family with three children from Louisiana living with a relative who was paralyzed in the Salcedeaver Community. We visited the Gulfport and Waveland areas. The level of disaster is truly beyond the utterance of words. “ I did not think that I would be surprised at anything I would see,” said Rev. Lowry, but I was. There were large boats in the tops of large trees from 10 miles away, refrigerators, debris and mattresses along highways, and the smell was breathtaking.”

Louisiana was the next site the team visited. The team met with representatives in the Dulac Community with the Houma Nation. The United Houma Nation, which are state recognized, the experienced greatest level of devastation. Pat Arunold, Director of the Louisiana Commission of Indian Affairs, reported that over 4,000 members and families were displaced across the Orleans St. Bernard, Plaquemines, and Jefferson Parishes. Two shelters were set-up to house affected families.

We toured the Dulac Community Center in the Terrebonne Parish. The Center houses a clothes closet, a food pantry, an intake office for services, and other programs. In addition, the Center is designated as a United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) sight and a United Methodist Commission on Relief (UMCOR) sight. Across from the Center is Clanton Chapel United Methodist Church which provides pre-school and after school programs for children. At the time of our visit, the Dulac Community had received very little assistance.

As the Houma Nation wrestled with the after affects of Katrina, there arose Hurricane Rita. According to tribal members, the task at hand is to bring aid to another 3,500 to 4,000 members forced from their homes. Reports indicate that recently repaired levees in Plaquemines, St. Bernard and lower Jefferson Parishes were breeched with up to six feet of water, re-flooding communities.

The fact-finding team also visited Philadelphia and Meridian cities in Mississippi, home of the Mississippi Choctaw. In this area, are three native ministries under the umbrella of SEJANAM. There were power outages and downed trees. Fortunately in this community, there was no lost of life within the native community.

SEJANAM is working with leaders at the national level, in the Rockingham District Native American Cooperative Ministry (RDNACM), and church leaders across the jurisdiction to coordinate work teams in providing assistance and relief to native families. RDNACM Coordinator Rev. Sylvia Collins said that the ministry has a wonderful history of providing work teams in the Southeast Jurisdiction, Alaska , and Bolivia .

SEJANAM has established a website for donations to provide relief in the gulf coast region. Members are in need of food, new clothing, building materials, tarps, blankets, bedding and air mattresses, cleaning supplies, and personal hygiene items.

If you would like to help with native communities with your monetary donations or resources, please refer to the following websites: www.sejanamkatrinarelief.org or www.unitedhoumanation.org. These donations can be sent directly to: United Houma Nation, 4400 La. 1, Raceland, LA 70384 . If you have questions, please call us at (828) 454.6724. Make checks payable to SEJANAM – Katrina Relief Fund, PO Box 67 , Lake Junaluska, NC 28745 . None of the monies will be used for administrative costs.