"Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers

"So many little things could have been done. So many people let it happen. So many looked away. And it only takes one person, one small act of stepping from the dark to the light."
-Dave Eggers, Zeitoun

I am completely and utterly stunned. Either I am just ignorant, or people really don't know about some of the terrible things that go on in our country. Reading this book, in 2013, was the first time I had heard of the horrific events following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Abdulrahman Zeitoun is a carpenter, from New Orleans, La., but he is originally from Syria. Everyone addressed him by his last name, because of the fact that his first name is pretty hard for Americans (especially in the South) to pronounce. His wife, Kathy, helps with the business. When the hurricane was approaching, the Zeitouns didn't think much of it. They heard these kinds of warning all the time, so this was all the same. Over the next few days, Kathy grew more worried, and wanted to evacuate. Zeitoun declined. Eventually, he told his wife that she could take the children out of the city, but he would stay and watch the house. After all, he had numerous properties he wanted to look after.

And so, that's what she did. She left to go stay with her family, while he stayed in the house and watched the water rise. After the flood came and Zeitoun had saved as much furniture and valuables as possible, he set sail! Well, he took his canoe out into the water to view the town. On his ride, he found many dogs that were trapped in the second floor of different houses, so he made the effort to bring them food and water. He did this every day. Also, he took his canoe and found people that were trapped, as well. He saved a few, and did his best to find help for the ones he couldn't save. He checked on his properties, and joined a few friends along the way.

Time passed, and he developed a routine. But the city began to change. The standing water began to gather filth, disease, sewage, and bodies. Crime started to break out, and rumors of murder, rape, and other horrible things filtered through the media. Kathy began to worry, and begged Zeitoun to come home. Still, he declined. He felt he had a purpose and a mission to uphold.

Eventually, the crime caught up with him. While in one of the houses he rents to to others, people that looked like they were from the National Guard came and arrested Zeitoun, along with the men that were there with him. They accused him of looting. Zeitoun said he owned the house they were in, but nothing he said would change their minds. He got in their boat and it drove them to the bus station.

There as a makeshift prison at the Greyhound bus station that was never there before. Zeitoun noticed the structure, and knew what hard work it would take to build these new outdoor cages. The plans to build this were made before the storm even hit. Prisoners from other surrounding prisons were brought in to build this prison two days after Katrina hit the city. They had ready-to-eat meals for the guards and the prisoners while there will people stranded and hungry in their own homes all over the city.

Zeitoun was called "terrorist" multiple times before he was tossed into one of the cages. He never got a phone call, his rights were never read to him, and the America he always knew no longer existed. Neither did he.

Kathy went almost 2 weeks without hearing for her husband, so she thought he was dead. She couldn't accept that, though. She just couldn't. She would call him on the phone at that rental house he checked on, but it just rang and rang with no answer. Everyday she called, but never did she receive a call back. Finally, one day, the phone rang. It was a missionary telling her that he saw her husband in a prison. She asked him where it was, but he said he couldn't tell her anything else because he shouldn't be telling her anything.

Eventually Kathy and Zeitoun were reunited, and they began the process of starting their lives over. When they went back to the prison to retrieve his wallet, they did not want to give it to him. They said they needed it as evidence, although his charges were dropped. After Kathy finally talked them into giving it back, it was missing the cash and credit cards that were in there when he was arrested.

Overtime, the pain of it all began to die down, but they will always be affected by Katrina. They rebuilt their home, and Zeitoun began helping rebuild homes all over the city. Nothing will make them forget, but they can still grow from the experience.

 CLICK HERE to watch a YouTube video of Zeitoun showing important location mentioned throughout the book.

Of course, that is just a brief description of what Zeitoun and his family went through during Hurricane Katrina. Read the entire book to know the whole story! It's well worth the read. It's horrible that more people don't know about this.

Watch this video about what people know about Hurricane Katrina (click here).

I've never been so disappointed about our country.This hurt me to read about what happened to Zeitoun. How can people be treated this way and the rest of the country not know. This was the main news story at that time, but yet I don't remember hearing of anything like this. Granted, I was young, but I was old enough to know what was going on. I never heard of such treatment.

One of the things that hit me the hardest, was when Zeitoun paddled up to men in uniform (soldier, National Guard, Navy, I'm not sure), asked for help, and they told them they couldn't help him or even call someone else to help him. WHY NOT??? Isn't that why they went there?

Eggers did an outstanding job at getting this truth out. Usually I am not drawn to non-fiction work, but this was not written in a informative, drawn out way. It was almost written like a fiction story, but everything was very real.

***

What do you remember from Hurricane Katrina? Were you aware of the what was REALLY going on?

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