When flood recedes, who will help victims?
I often say homeless shelters are like refugee camps.
They are meant to be a place where you can go temporarily until you return home or move to another place where you can start all over again.
This spring, under the threat of flood waters that surrounded or flooded parts of Manitoba, many people have been made refugees.
Some have lost both their livelihood and their homes and are not sure whether they will ever get any of it back.
Others are in shock and have stopped functioning. I’ve heard stories of people declining sandbags around their house for no apparent reason.
Emotions are high and everyone is exhausted.
One lady forced from her home stayed at a shelter for one night and slept under a table. The next morning, she woke up to people eating at the table.
She said that’s when she began to realize what it might be like to live in a shelter.
I’ve heard many people never completely recovered emotionally following the disastrous flood of 1997.
The flood forever marked the “before and after” for them.
Many rebounded, rebuilt and became stronger people. But that’s not the case for everyone.
Just like back then, this time around there will probably be a few people who — with or without supports in place — will be pushed beyond their ability to cope with the trauma of the past few weeks.
While a setback is an opportunity to recoup and overcome an obstacle as a stronger person, others are affected by loss to the degree where they cannot imagine a future for themselves that is equal to their life before the trauma.
These people will not make the headlines because they usually shrink away and hide from facing the situation.
They may move to another community because they’ve lost their homes and silently retreat from moving forward in their lives.
In the more extreme cases, there might be family breakup because of unhealed trauma. Some will give up on life entirely. Depression sets in and they stop functioning as they did before.
Shelters are full of such people.
When I am asked why people become homeless, my answer is not addictions or mental illness. My answer is that somewhere along the way, people could not cope with life anymore and stopped functioning well enough to make it in the world.
That doesn’t mean there is no hope. With the right supports in place, many people learn to cope again and move forward.
When the flood waters recede and people see what’s left of their homes and their livelihoods, that’s when we should be looking around to see who’s not doing so well.
It might very well be that we’ll want to judge and write them off because they are unmotivated and detached.
Please take some time to connect with them and offer your support.
They may not be as strong as you, and need you to walk with them until they can get back on their feet again.
Homeless shelters are full of people who were never given that chance.
— Floyd Perras is the executive director of Siloam Mission.
