Displaced children inspired to share stories
The little girls chanted as we sat on the concrete floor, “I think I can, I think I can.”
They began yelling the refrain as their parents sat in the line for FEMA assistance at the George R. Brown Convention Center, which was serving as a primary shelter for more than 8,000 people who had to be evacuated from their homes during Hurricane Harvey.
The storm and the floodwaters that followed had destroyed many of these children’s homes just a few days prior. They were oblivious to the fact that their parents were seeking shelter, food and funds from the federal government while they sat on the floor reading the classic children’s book, “The Little Engine That Could,” published in 1930.
After we finished the book, repeating, “I knew I could, I knew I could,” I had the children, who were between ages 3 and 6, use emoji stickers to make their own story books. One girl used all the transporting emojis — car, boat, airplane, train, bus — to show how her family left their home. She didn’t give many concrete details, but the symbols told the whole story.
My employer, Writers in the Schools (WITS), was at the shelter meeting children where they were. We read and wrote and listened as children told their stories in whatever way they could. “We are able to help children with what we do best, which is help them tell their stories,” said Robin Reagler, the director of WITS. “We can’t help with food or clothing or finding them a new home, but we can be a crucial part of the healing process.”
The YMCA invited WITS to join them in the shelter’s Kids Zone with other local organizations. More than two dozen WITS writers showed up
each day. (WITS has since moved to NRG Center.)
The program’s administrators met with pediatricians at the shelter each morning, and the physicians shared their assessments of what was going on with the children.
“In a natural disaster setting like this, children are the last to be treated emotionally, because they are small,” Reagler said. “Adults are talking with others and with each other, but children don’t often have a similar outlet to tell their story, because they aren’t asked.”
Children often tell their stories in very whimsical ways, she continued.
She talked about one child who related a tale in the voice of a monkey who saw a giant elephant suck up all the water in a lake and shoot it out of his snout at everything. The monkey was very scared.
“We are poised to capture that story and understand what it means and empathize with the monkey,” Reagler said.
Another child expressed himself by creating a comic strip about a carrot attack on his city. A different kid told his story through superheroes saving the day. One wrote a poem about her dream house while another wrote about leaves floating through hers.
The shelters will begin to close as FEMA finds temporary housing solutions for families. But with only a third of HISD schools ready to open and thousands of school children displaced, WITS is committed to going wherever the children need them to be.
“Nothing has brought our city together like this moment. It is truly inspiring,” Reagler said. “It makes me want to work harder than ever to bring the healing power of storytelling to every Houston child.”