Students Counsel Hurricane Katrina Survivors

Purdue Calumet students Sophia Treyger and Chai Benson.

Purdue Calumet students Sophia Treyger and Chai Benson say they saw the best in people who have experienced the worst.

Treyger and Benson were among 16 graduate students in Purdue Calumet's Marriage and Family Therapy Program who recently spent a week in Mississippi counseling survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Also, five Purdue Calumet construction technology students helped rebuild houses.

"Our duty was to call and check up on people," Treyger said. "We were to do whatever it took to reach people. If that meant driving around a devastated neighborhood and talking to anyone we saw, that is what we did."

Added Benson, "We were given a list of people who needed various types of help. There was everything from a family whose father committed suicide to an elderly couple needing debris removed from their yard."

In addition to providing counseling, the students lent a hand wherever needed.

"Some families had us putting up insulation, moving boxes, cleaning up yards, and in the meantime just chatting with them," Treyger said. "We were all amazed every single day at how resilient these people were."

According to Benson, one man told her how the hurricane brought his family closer together.

"'Life these days is so busy and no one ever had time to call or write, much less stop by to visit,' he told me," said Benson. "'Now we talk every day to our family, visit at least once a week with our neighbors, and we are genuinely grateful for each other.'"

The students described the devastation, but focused on what a positive experience they had.

"When we first got there, it was horrifying to see all the destruction," Benson said. "Trees were completely uprooted, signs stripped, and buildings were piles of broken pieces."

"So many times we think of people who experience such tragedy as losing everything," Benson added. "Indeed, many had lost all of their material belongings, even pictures and albums that will never be replaced. But what these people possessed was something great and powerful. They had the strength to face another day with an open mind and heart."

Said Treyger, "Mississippi was a wonderful experience on so many levels. It demonstrated the beauty and strength of human beings and it shaped and confirmed the kind of therapist I want to be."