Tomas Herzberger, a Ball State University graduate exchange student from Germany, was taken aback during his trip to the Hurricane Katrina disaster area last week.
It wasn't because of the damage. It wasn't because of the depression. It was because of the faith of the people who were displaced by the hurricane.
"I'm from Germany, so I've never been to the southern United States," Herzberger said. "It was amazing for me to see how strong they were in their belief. They lost everything but still had their faith and belief in God."
Herzberger is a master's student in the Department of Telecommunications digital storytelling class. He was one of four students who traveled to the Gulf Coast region last Wednesday under the direction of Maria Williams-Hawkins, associate professor of telecommunications, to help victims of the aftermath and produce more balanced news stories. The group also included graduate student Nick Geidner, graduate exchange student Helen Kibby, of New Zealand, and junior Ashely Richardson.
The group used digital equipment to produce stories for Newslink Indiana and Indiana Public Radio, as well as other stations throughout the country. The stoThe stories will also be transferred to technologies such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, iPods and Web sites.
The students spent their first day transporting relief supplies and helping to set up a shelter in Gulfport, Miss. The group then went to the Mississippi Coliseum shelter at Jackson to help provide more relief and shoot video. On their third day, they continued to gather stories, speaking with doctors, Wal-Mart pharmacists and Red Cross volunteers. They also had the opportunity to interview two music performers, Williams-Hawkins said.
"I think that was most exciting for some of my students," she said.
In addition, the group interviewed a displaced man and family of four, who returned with them to Indianapolis and were then provided apartments in Richmond.
On their final day, the students planned to travel to Baton Rouge after interviewing a group of relief volunteers from Speedway and Muncie. However, plans changed when a woman from New Orleans - who was staying in the Pearl Street African Methodist Episcopal Church shelter with the students and 30 other evacuees - suddenly announced that her son had been found.
"The lady came in yelling, 'They found my son!'" Williams-Hawkins said. "And she wanted to go to Baton Rouge."
The woman, however, left with another person before the students had the opportunity to take her.
"You're excited that you're going to do something that was good and [plans] change, so I think this was a big lesson for students," Williams-Hawkins said. "In a disaster situation, things change all the time."
Ashely Richardson, a telecommunications major with an option in production, said she was surprised to see so many people behaving positively despite their circumstances. In fact, most people were willing to be videotaped, she said.
"The experience was a bit awkward because, of course, they would be sitting there and be hurt, and you had to walk up to them and stick a camera in their face and ask questions," Richardson said.
Having only one or two changes of clothes, not being able to shower for five days and eating only food left over from the evacuees' meals was also a humbling experience for Richardson.
"Of course we don't feel exactly how they felt, but we have a better understanding now that we tried to get as close as possible and tried to end up like them," she said.
Herzberger said he was particularly interested in seeing how rescuers handled the situation.
"I tried to understand the situation because when I saw the footage, I couldn't understand how this could happen in a country like the United States, how the response could be so slow," Herzberger said. "I learned people are getting help from all over the country."
The students' footage will provide a more insightful and accurate look at one of the worst natural disasters in the nation's history, Richardson said.
"Some people think that TV is twisting everything up," she said. "Some people really don't believe what they see on TV."
For Herzberger, the Gulf Coast project was a huge step toward reaching his career goal in media management, he said.
"It's not important just to watch TV and to believe what they say is all in the headline," he said. "It's much more."
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