Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez said last week more than 100 Crisis Corps volunteers have been sent to Louisiana and nearby states.
Paraguay RPCV Oliver Dick helps in Louisiana
Local Peace Corps volunteer helps in Louisiana
By Claudia Torrens / Daily News Staff
Monday, September 19, 2005
Oliver Dick didn't think about flying to Louisiana when he first saw the impacting images of the disaster left in Hurricane Katrina's wake.
But when the Peace Corps e-mailed him offering the opportunity, the Framingham resident didn't think twice.
"It was the right time for me," he said in a telephone interview from a small town close to Baton Rouge. "I thought I could provide some help."
Dick, 33, who just bought a condo on Kendall Avenue in Framingham, has been in the southern state since Sept. 8, assisting in the areas damaged by the hurricane. This is the first time in the Peace Corps' 44-year history volunteers have been sent to work domestically. And Dick is the only Peace Corps volunteer from Massachusetts to have been sent to the area.
As a member of the Crisis Corps team, the Framingham resident first arrived in Orlando, Fla., where he completed some training with the computer program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He then traveled to Baton Rouge where he sleeps in a tent camp specially set up for FEMA and Peace Corps volunteers.
"The camp is pretty good; all tents have air conditioning," he said after a long day near the Disaster Recovery Center, in a small town near Baton Rouge.
Dick has been assisting people by informing them about nearby shelters, filling out application for loans and directing them to the right places to go. He said he also helps people who need the $2,000 FEMA is offering to those who are eligible.
"Many of them have nothing," he said. "It's surprising how they all are very nice people considering they lost all they had."
The Baton Rouge area has not been as severely affected by the hurricane as others, said Dick, and although he could see some trees destroyed and some buildings with no roof, it was not comparable to images seen on television.
Things, however, are not as Dick predicted.
"Nobody is making decisions here. I feel nobody is connecting, there are no lines of communication between volunteer organizations," he said. "It's kind of frustrating."
He explained how a group of volunteers was supposed to set up trailers as a provisional way for people with no housing to live in, but so far, nobody has information about that program.
"They have told us to answer that 'We don't know about that' if anybody asks about the trailers," said Dick. "This is poorly organized. Even small things don't get done."
Dick said volunteers in the area give out phone numbers that don't work and many don't know exactly how they can offer any help. An average of 200 people a day go to the Disaster Recovery Center looking for assistance, said Dick.
Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez said last week more than 100 Crisis Corps volunteers have been sent to Louisiana and nearby states.
"The magnitude of this very tragic situation is something we had never seen and that required unprecedented response," said Vasquez. "So many people have lost their belongings. The role of volunteers becomes critical to help those people get back on their feet."
This is not the first time Dick has volunteered with the Peace Corps.
The local resident worked in Paraguay from 1995 to 1997 as a small enterprise volunteer, where he helped build housing and cooperatives. He holds a master's degree from the University of North Texas and has lived in Framingham for more than a year, he said.
"Although there are better ways of doing this, I would have come here anyway if I knew it was going to be like this," Dick said.
Dick will return to Framingham Oct. 7 or 8.
