Man questions whether his mother is alive

A young girl who should have been enjoying the school year as a third-grader but instead was seeking shelter with her family at the New Orleans Convention Center, was raped and murdered by a group of men -- her body carelessly tossed into a freezer.

Roger Rice still has faith in people.

A policeman there to help control the hellish insanity at that same shelter shot himself dead after learning his entire family was among those lost in Mother Nature's wrath.

Roger Rice still has faith help will come.

The question of whether or not his own mother is still alive crosses his mind every waking moment.

But you can't tell -- he still has enough faith to smile every day.

"I've gotta be strong for everyone else," spoke 31-year-old Rice as he sat in the front pew at Camp McClanahan's worship center near Kennett, Missouri.

After being shipped from city to city and turned away from an Alabama Navy base due to overcrowding, he and more than a hundred others settled in a cluster of small, white cabins located in the middle of a dry and dusty field -- a change of view from the neck-high waters most of them waded through seeking solace and comfort.

"We were turned away at the Super Dome, so we just kept on going to the convention center," he said.

But once there, helping hands and a peaceful atmosphere were nowhere to be found.

The good of humanity crumbled right along with the city and nothing could stop the mayhem that ravaged the flooded streets.

"Anything that could be broken into or taken -- that's what was done," he explained. "Stampedes of people would trample over you every time a helicopter flew by."

Food and water were desperately needed, but there was none to be had.

"They had dead bodies sitting in chairs," he said. "I saw a one-month old baby die of dehydration."

And during the agonizing wait, he still had his mother to think about. She had refused to leave the house with him.

"I told her to come with me, but she just said 'Boy, you've gotta have faith!' I said that faith is action and you have to do something about it yourself."

When Rice finally arrived in Kennett, he began living with the Coston family whom he had met on the streets shortly after leaving his rapidly flooding home.

Minnie Sanders, executive director of the Dunklin County Caring Council, gave him a laptop for him to write poetry on -- something he has always loved doing.

He hopes to publish them into a book someday, inspiring as many people as he can with his words.

"With all this stress. It's hard to progress," says one of the lines.

Hard to progress? No doubt. But he has faith, and that's the only thing in the world that matters.

"I've been through a lot and I still smile every day."

-- Sam Dereign

sdereign@semissourian.com