Day 9 in Houston - Jaya & Patty

What's up girl, Me and Patty are here in the Astrodome right now, we are sleeping here because there are people we know who keep getting turned away from FEMA about the housing and they need to be at the office at 8am and if we don't go they might get split up from their families and that's all they got. Today has been the most frustrating, the longer we're here the more militarized it's getting, the more unorganized it is, everyone in uniform acts indifferent to the people's suffering and the fact that they get told different directions for housing every four hours, it's like they don't care that people are going to be in the street in a few days because this fu&%#@! Astrodome is more worried about setting up for the next football game then taking care of people who just have lost everything.

There are helicopters all over the place, and national guard sitting around not doing nothing until someone  comes to ask for help then they get all aggressive and send them away.  All the abundance of food and water that was here a few days ago is dwindling, it's like they are trying to make people uncomfortable so that they wil hurry up and get out. The news been making it seem like it's all cupcakes around here and everyone is getting food and housing and all that but really, everyone is getting sick from the food, they're getting the run around about housing placement, and the debit cards and FEMA money are not getting to the people.  All those millions of dollars being donated are not getting into the people's hands.  WHERE IS ALL THE MONEY GOING!?! The people that are supposedly trying to help are just trying to exploit people for their FEMA benefits and there have been all kinds of scams on people about getting housing.

Everyday it's some basketball player, or celebrity in here making promises to folks and then they never hear from them again.  I can hardly hold my tears and anger in especially because I know people on the outside think people are getting taken care of in here.  THE PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING IN HERE AND ARE BEING TREATED LIKE THEIR FUTURES AND BASIC SURVIVAL DON'T MATTER. A young man with MTV told me there was a press conference here a few days ago and whenever a reporter was trying to get some real information they were escorted out.  Today a bunch of school kids got beat up cause the gang folks from Houston are set trippin on the folks from New Orleans, one young boy got sent to the hospital, females are jumping each other too. So now the kids don't want to go to school and the tension is getting thick between the Houston and New Orleans young folks.  It is impossible to get a real answer around here about anything and the despair is rising and we are feeling angry and helpless.

We spent $80 on a taxi cause the compound wasn't helping with transportation and we were trying to get this  family of 16 in an apartment, well, the manager wanted a voucher from FEMA and we came all the way back here to get a voucher and they are refusing to give us one! They shut the housing office down even though there were like two hundred people in the office that had not been placed yet. That man Sidney I sent you the picture about I know won't be able to get his housing on his own and I keep telling FEMA that and they just keep saying "be here at 8, be here at 8, be here at 8" without listening to my explanation about his health conditions. I got so mad I had to cry because they know he ain't all the way healthy enough to "get here at 8"   This sh*@! is crazy, the people are being treated like prisoners, and people in the town starting to turn on them too, and in here some people are turning on each other. I heard a police busted a young boys lip today.

All the nice stories we had a few days ago are turning into nightmares.  I'm  sorry to send this to you like this but it's getting real ugly here and the rest of the world probably thinks it's all great and it's anything but that. Yeah there are still people who are really sincere and are doing right but it's not enough when you don't have any power or resources to make things happen.  We are at the mercy of the government and right now the government don't gives a f*%# .....Let me know what's up where you're at, see you soon, love, jaya

Reported by Patricia Barraza & Jaya, Written to Nancy Hernandez