Restoring the soul of America

AT a glance, New Orleans’ oldest neighbourhood bears no sign of having been a casualty of the pain brought by Hurricane Katrina.

The French Quarter, which largely stayed dry when disaster hit in 2005, is alive with the sound of jazz almost at every corner.

Tourists munch on “beignets” (French doughnuts) priced at US$1.59 (RM5.54) for three pieces at the famous Cafe du Monde while a local African-American musician stands nearby, alternating between singing Amazing Grace and playing his trumpet.

It was the weekend of the Satchmo Summer Fest, an annual event to honour the memory of New Orleans’ famous son Louis Armstrong, whom the city’s international airport is named after.

Free jazz concerts were everywhere. Step inside a gift shop and you could hear strains of What a Wonderful World.

“This music is our therapy now,” said 67-year-old retiree Lauretta Wolf, who was accompanying her 10-year-old granddaughter to a jazz performance by children at the French Quarter.

Wolf, born and bred in New Orleans, had moved to Hammond, a city about 80km from The Big Easy after Katrina struck.

“My mother lives with me. We are too old to start over here again,” said Wolf, who brings her granddaughter Gabrielle Snyder to the French Quarter every week. She wants young Gabrielle to appreciate jazz.

“This is our culture,” she said, looking at her granddaughter dancing with the jazz band on stage. “Jazz is the music of my time. I don’t want her to forget it.”

But this city of music is still languishing from the after effects of Katrina 2005. According to statistics, it hosted 3.7 million visitors last year, a far cry from the 10 million the year before the storm.

It has also has the dubious title of being Uncle Sam’s murder capital. There have been 117 murders here this year and, according to news reports, the rate is about 95 killings per 100,000 residents.

Recently, its mayor C. Ray Nagin acknowledged that the city seemed dangerous but added somewhat ironically that such bad news “keeps the New Orleans brand out there.”

Locals from Biloxi, a Mississippi city about 121km away, seem wary about the crime rate in New Orleans.

“Be careful when you get there. Stick to where the crowd is,” said taxi driver Jimmy Seal.

At a New Orleans hotel, the receptionist was cautious about her advice on safety in the city. “It isn’t dangerous. Just don’t venture too far off from the city centre, and don't look too touristy,” she said.

Needless to say, there is no such fear within the French Quarter, which remains vibrant with its sights and sounds ... pubs, shops, cafes and art galleries. There is always a musician somewhere, be it at a quiet corner on the street, playing his instrument even when no one is about.

Posters at public spots declaring “Louisiana Rebirth: Restoring the Soul of America” were a reminder – not that people need to be reminded – of the ongoing plan to rebuild the city after the Katrina disaster.

But, as they point out, progress is measured in inches. The hurricane damaged almost 72% of the homes in New Orleans, which sits below sea level. Prior to the disaster, its population stood at 450,000.

Residents have returned home gradually. One rough estimate put the population now at about half of the original number.

The bleak facts are that the number of hospital beds has dropped by two-thirds, and thousands of people still live in government-provided trailers as they could not move back home yet.

An AP report noted that some residents would get their mail only three times a week.

So far, about US$1bil (RM3.48bil) has been spent to rebuild the hurricane protection system in the city.

But warm regards for New Orleans remain aplenty. Travellers who stop by at the Visitor Information Centre in French Quarter often wish the local staff there “all the best.”

Tourism has been a lifeline for New Orleans. It reportedly supports one-third of the city budget, besides providing jobs for 85,000 locals. Taxi drivers, dropping off their passengers at the airport, would tell the visitors to come again another time to check on their city.

Come what may, crime or catastrophe, they know that life has to go on.

Malaysia going on tourism blitz in US and Canada

AS a couple, they are the exact opposites. One is the very symbol of Kuala Lumpur’s concrete jungle, the other is the man of the jungle.

But together, they are the biggest “poster boys” for Americans coming to Malaysia. We are talking about the Petronas’ Twin Towers and the Orang Utan.

“The Twin Towers remain our iconic landmark. They know that Taipei 101 has overtaken us. But our advantage is that we have two towers!” said Mohamad Taib Ibrahim, Tourism Malaysia vice-president (New York).

Malaysia’s second best-known “face” among Americans is the Wild Man of Borneo.

“I am often asked ‘can we cuddle them?’, ‘can we touch them?’,” he said.

Americans, he said, preferred to see the orang utan in their natural habitat. They know about the renowned Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre in Sandakan, and the Semengoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Kuching.

“They are more interested to know what we are doing to protect the orang utan,” Mohamad Taib pointed out as the name “Borneo” itself sounded very exotic to the Americans.

Come Sept 9 to 17, a Malaysian delegation led by Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor will be on a hard-sell mission to the United States and Canada.

Their first stop is New York City, followed by Toronto, Vancouver and Los Angeles.

“Our main objective is to inform and educate the industry about our tourism products. We also want to provide a bridge between Malaysian suppliers and the local players,” Mohamad Taib said.

Seminars, presentations, meetings with agents to draft tour packages; even lucky draws are in the line-up.

Among the Malaysian participants are Borneo Divers and the Hilton Batang Ai Longhouse Resort, besides representatives from World Amateur Inter-Team Golf Championship and Monsoon Cup.

“The idea is to showcase Malaysia as not just a leisure destination but to stress that we have other niches as well,” he said.

Tengku Adnan would also be opening the Naza Group-owned Crowne Plaza San Pedro in Los Angeles on Sept 15.

And in collaboration with Telekom Malaysia USA Inc, he would also launch in New York on Sept 10 a prepaid international phone card, where 60,000 cards will be sold in Florida, Washington DC, Virginia, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

These cards, in denominations of US$2, US$5, US$10 and US$20, will feature costumes such as the cheongsam and sari, plus the songket and “pua”.

“It is a way to sell the Malaysian brand. Hopefully, they can become collectors’ items as well.”

The aggressiveness of the Malaysian delegation is understandable.

Firstly, the focus now is towards long-haul markets such as the United States, Europe and Russia.

“A lot of our tourists are from neighbouring countries like Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei. Now, we want to target markets that are further away,” Mohamad Taib said.

But perhaps there is a more compelling reason. Although the number of American visitors to Malaysia went up by 15.2% to 174,336 last year, the figures still fell short of the targeted 180,000.

Apparently, the Johor floods and the unrest in Thailand have impacted the entry points in the south and north of the country.

Mohamad Taib acknowledged that the main stumbling block in selling Malaysia to the Americans was their perception of what a Muslim country was all about.

The images they have are kidnappings, insurgents and terrorists.

“But once they visit Malaysia, they know that nothing can be further from the truth.”

Still, the US market isn’t doing too badly.

A total of 45,525 tourists were recorded between January and March, which represented a 7.8% increase compared to the first quarter of last year.

In fact, Tourism Malaysia is targeting 200,000 American tourists next year.

As Mohamad Taib put it, the best-kept secrets about the country should be out.

‘Voluntourists’ use vacation to help ease the pain

THEY carried grief in their hearts but on their faces there's a look of delight as they greet visitors to their battered city.

Loretta Lizana even shared a joke as she recalled the day before Hurricane Katrina pounded Biloxi, Mississippi, two years ago.

There had been an evacuation order and as they packed up to leave, her neighbour said: “I hope this hurricane comes and wipes out everything real good!”

“We have had such evacuations at least seven times previously. Each time, it was cry wolf,” said Lizana, who works for Pass Road to the Future, an organisation dedicated to helping local residents.

Her neighbour’s remark turned all too real. “Later, I told her that she had to be careful with what she wished for,” Lizana added with a laugh, as she related the story to a group of visiting journalists.

According to city councilman Bill Stallworth, east Biloxi was the hardest hit, with 3,000 homes destroyed and another 4,000 damaged by the rising water. Casualties totalled 53.

Lizana is among the 55% of residents who have moved back so far.

“Most of the media attention was on New Orleans. But Biloxi was the one hit by the eye of the storm,” Stallworth said.

Amidst the anguish and misery, Katrina brought out resilience and faith among the people.

Biloxi is a seaside gambling resort, and at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino last Thursday night, partygoers at its Club Tiki appeared to have weathered the storm.

At least 30,000 good Samaritans have made their way to east Biloxi to help rebuild the city. Most of them are from churches and faith-based organisations.

They are known as “voluntourists” – people who use their vacation to help others on their own expense and time. They include teenagers still in their braces who spend about a week here.

Most of them keep coming back to give a hand. “There is something about the human spirit that wants to do something; to make a difference in people’s life,” a volunteer said.

Part-time photographer Curtis Copeland, who was helping to reconstruct a house, attributed his volunteerism to his faith.

“I am from the Calvary Church. If I were in the same situation, I would hope that others would help me as well,” said Copeland, 42, who came to Biloxi from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Kryzra Stallworth, wife of the councilman, said they lived inside a trailer until their house was rebuilt six months later.

“I would not have made it without the smiles of the volunteers as they worked under the hot sun,” she said.

It was a tough time for her. “I have been a nurse for 20 years, I know the smell of bodies decaying.”

But as always, love found its way, even among the volunteers.

Golf instructor Randy May, 58, married a fellow volunteer within two weeks of meeting her in Biloxi. He had arrived here from Texas shortly after Katrina unleashed herself. The couple have remained here, dedicating themselves to rebuilding the city.

The locals are grateful to these strangers who descended upon their city. Water and appreciation run deep, they say.

Biloxi is home to the longest man-made beach in the United States at 42km. Its elegant and historic beachfront homes have all been swept away, leaving visitors nothing to see except empty land and desolate restaurant signages.

Notices on the beach say “Please Excuse Our Mess As We Clean Up From Storm Damage”.

“The morning after the storm, we had no landmarks left, no road signs. We didn’t know where we were. Recently, we had some visitors who had much difficulty finding their way around, as many signs are still not put up yet. I told them ‘welcome to our world’,” said media relations manager Janice Jones.

There was also the story of a local physician who committed suicide, weighed down by what he felt was his own failure to help patients with no insurance.

John Thomas Longo, the mayor of Waveland (another nearby Mississippi city), has been slogging 24/7 since the storm struck.

“I’m still getting 100 calls a day. Some of them break my heart; we have the elderly who want to come home but no house to come back to,” said Longo, who operates from a makeshift office and wears shorts to work.

There was a time when he did not see his wife and children for seven months as he had sent them to live elsewhere. “At one time, I thought I had no more tears left in my body.”

As city councilman Stallworth said: “Please let people know there is still pain here.”

Not cheap owning a home in the Big Apple

IT WAS an Oprah moment for the Loo family. Five years after arriving in America, taking up dozens of odd jobs and missing out on untold hours of sleep, they finally have a place they can call their own.

On Tuesday, they will move into a US$550,000 (RM1.9mil) double-storey house, completing their American Dream.

“It had been our plan from day one to buy a house here. We would bank in our salaries, withdrawing only sufficient for daily expenses. Everything else goes towards the house,” said Moses Loo, a hospital administrator.

His wife Michelle Chew, who had accompanied him, works as an insurance executive.

Theirs is a story of triumph in a city of renters. A recent news report, quoting the 2005 American Community Survey, stated that only about 33% of people here are homeowners.

Property prices are staggering. The average apartment in Brooklyn, a New York City borough, costs US$629,000 (RM2.2mil).

You’ll take Manhattan, did you say? In a soon-to-be completed condominium project there the average price per unit is US$1.49mil (RM5.2mil). And a basement parking space goes for US$225,000 (RM783,000).

Loo came to New York for post-graduate studies upon securing a green card through the lottery draw.

In those early days, this 30-something couple would break their backs to take up at least two simultaneous part-time jobs between them. They waited on tables, or worked as a telephone operator for that extra cash.

Sacrifices were aplenty especially when they had their son, now three.

“No movies, no vacations, no going to karaoke although I love to sing,” Chew said.

Loo, on his part, opted for the graveyard shift so as to care for their child during the day. It was only early this year that they began sending the boy to daycare.

Apart from their savings and loans from friends, they borrowed US$400,000 (RM1.4mil) from the bank recently to purchase a 6m by 30m house in Brooklyn. They found the 50-year-old house through an acquaintance and thus were spared the broker’s fee.

“This is such a thrill. We have our own parking space and a yard now. No landlady to tell us not to wash our car. No more going to the laundromat,” Chew said.

(Their US$900, or RM3,100, monthly rental for the ground floor of a two-storey house covered the water bill, so the landlady was often calculative about the usage of the utility. Washing machines are forbidden.)

Most of all, there is freedom.

“The landlady, who lives upstairs, will knock on my door the minute she hears the slightest noise from my TV at night,” Loo said.

In the past two years, Loo and his wife secured well-paying and stable jobs. Last year, they had a combined annual salary of US$80,000 (RM278,000).

However, he played down their achievement.

“We do not have the kind of jobs that we want. That’s the sacrifice,” said Loo, who would have preferred to pursue a career in writing.

Still, he is far more fortunate than those who came here to scratch out a living without legal status.

One Malaysian couple have not seen their two children, now 11 and 12, whom they left in the care of their relatives, since they arrived here a decade ago. The phone is their main way of connecting with their kids.

He works as a deliveryman, while the wife is a cashier at a fruit stall. They have earned enough to own three houses in Malaysia, but fear returning home as they know they could never re-enter the United States should they do so.

Buying a house here is obviously out of the question for illegal immigrants like them. Their option is to rent the upper floor of a double-storey house in Brooklyn with another family.

Manhattan remains out of reach for most renters. A mere studio apartment in the SoHo neighbourhood could cost up to US$2,230 (RM7,760); double that amount for two-bedroom units.

Even monthly parking rates average US$630 (RM2,200) in midtown Manhattan. In San Francisco, it comes to about US$350 (RM1,200).

Newspapers here devote much space to home ownership. Every Thursday, the New York Post will feature dwellings that have been recently sold.

For example, it reported that an 88-square-metre two-bedroom unit in East Village fetched US$785,000 (RM2.7mil). The original asking price was US$849,000 (RM3mil), and it had been on the market for six months.

Another newspaper carries a weekly highlight of couples who have searched for and found their dream place.

The New York Times, in featuring selected homes that are on the market, would not just list the price, size and monthly maintenance fee but also the pros and cons.

A one-bedroom apartment in Upper East Side, for instance, is going for US$765,000 (RM2.6mil).

“Pros: There’s plenty of storage space. The bathroom has been carefully renovated to maintain the original pre-war look. Cons: Maintenance (US$1,464, or RM5,100) is a bit high, although it does include gas and electricity.”

It’s home sweet home only for those with fat bank accounts.