This is our hostess while we were in Bayou Labatre. She didn't speak English, but she and her husband took all 6 of us in at the last minute (our previous arrangement fell through an hour outside Mobile, forcing us to call our contacts down there to see what alternatives we could find. This wonderful woman (don't even know her name!) cooked fresh food for us every meal, and made sure we were up to date with the news on Rita, and kept us in comfortable beds. All of this in the midst of real adversity within her own community. Her husband and she lived in a house on high enough ground they were relatively unaffected by the storm surge which destroyed many of the homes and their contents in their small fishing village. They responded by offering their home to friends and neighbors who were not so fortunate, and then to some stranded relief workers at the last minute! She not only cooked for us, but spent her days with us to ensure we had directions to our destinations. We made a trip to Biloxi on the second day down there, which was an eye opening view of the extent of the destruction left by this storm. I took hundreds of photos, but haven't sorted it all out yet. I did want to start my posts about the trip with a tribute to this woman and her family, who embraced us with amazing kindness and generosity. As a practitioner of Dharma it was a beautiful example of compassion in action...
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