Hurricane Sandy came down\u00a0fast and furious. \u00a0We know it affected millions of people, even those that did not live in its\u2019\u00a0direct\u00a0path. \u00a0The destruction was widespread, and many estimate\u00a0it will cost billions of dollars. \u00a0But we\u00a0know its\u2019 real cost will exceed any dollar amount. \u00a0Just ask the family who lost the bottom floor of their house and all their cars and are still living in a shelter days later. \u00a0Or the retired couple who lost the dream home they built on the Jersey Shore.<\/p>\n
We asked Grow Mama readers to share their experiences on Hurricane Sandy with us.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n After almost a week without heat or power, you become truly thankful for the normal everyday things we are blessed with.\u00a0For us, it was somewhat of an adventure trying to be tactful with limited resources, like lighting my gas stove \u201cfireplace\u201d when it got unbearable.\u00a0 A generous neighbor let us share his generator for a few rationed hours from sunset onwards, until the lights flickered out. \u00a0While I worried about charging my iPhone, iPad, and laptop to continue working, others\u00a0around the world worry\u00a0about their kids feeling the pangs of hunger or being another war casualty.\u00a0\u00a0I can\u2019t imagine how there are many people for whom this temporary experience is the least of their worries in their normal every day.<\/p>\n \u2014 Amani, Springfield, NJ<\/em><\/p>\n I was safe in Northern Virginia during Sandy, where we were blessed to have a big pre-storm scare that ended well for us, with no loss of electricity or life.\u00a0In the hours before the storm, my mind kept on taking me back to the stories of the Prophets who warned their people of a dire punishment if they continued to disbelieve in Allah, and how they remained heedless. I hoped that my choice to not prepare for this storm wasn\u2019t a reflection of how I would have acted if I had lived at a different time and been warned of a different kind of storm.<\/p>\n \u2014 Fatima, Falls Church VA<\/em><\/p>\n Hurricane Sandy hit central NJ hard the evening of Monday October 29th.\u00a0\u00a0Winds began howling mid-afternoon as my 3.5 year old observed the scene from our living room window.\u00a0\u00a0Lights went out at 8 pm. With two flashlights and a host of candles, we\u00a0gathered around a small table,\u00a0sharing\u00a0child-friendly\u00a0scary stories and introduced her to the wonderful world of charades,\u00a0a\u00a0memory that will always stay with me.\u00a0\u00a0Although our neighborhood had its share of fallen trees and power outages, our home was thankfully spared. We feel so grateful to be safe and pray for all those who have been deeply affected.\u00a0\u00a0While the storm has created much devastation, it has also given us the opportunity to teach our daughter the importance of giving back to the community, something I hope she will carry with her as she grows into a strong Muslim woman.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2014 Nadia, East Windsor, NJ<\/em><\/p>\n We lost power. The kids thought it was devastating. We talked about the effect on others \u2013 flooding, no water in some areas, trees crashing through homes.\u00a0 We talked about all our blessings \u2013 all together, healthy, safe, working fireplace to keep us warm, hot water, food to eat, etc; the list is endless alhamdulillah.<\/em> Day 10 of no electricity \u2013 we\u2019ve camped out on the family room floor in front of the fireplace, hung blankets on the windows to keep out the draft, cordoned off the room with sheets to contain the heat of the fireplace. We are warm. Our stove works and we eat warm food.\u00a0 We wash our laundry in the bathtub and dry in front of the fireplace. The kids complain less about their food choices and eat in the semi darkness with one flashlight since sunset is so early now. By 5:30 everyone\u2019s ready for bedtime and by 6:30 they\u2019ve pretty much knocked out.\u00a0 Us adults do a quick cleanup, pray the night prayer, and by 8:30 we are\u00a0also in\u00a0bed. How easy\u00a0sleep comes without the distractions of our everyday life.\u00a0 In a way, once power is back, I think we\u2019ll miss the simple life. If it wasn\u2019t for the lights and heat missing, I might consider keeping\u00a0things this way. I do miss being connected\u00a0to the outside world with phone and internet, but I think I\u2019ve been a better mother without their\u00a0presence.<\/p>\n \u2014 UmMuhammad,\u00a0Lyndhurst,\u00a0NJ<\/em><\/p>\n The way I see it, there are so many hidden blessings the hurricane bought with it. For one thing, people got in touch with each other, even reaching out to others they haven\u2019t spoken to in ages.\u00a0And EVERYONE has remembered yet again who\u2019s truly in charge- Allah. \u00a0Many people are now realizing the blessings of having electricity, hot water, and basic\u00a0everyday conveniences\u00a0that are easily taken for granted. \u00a0We have also been given many chances now to step up and help in humanitarian\u00a0effort\u00a0to help those who lost everything in the hurricane. \u00a0May our duaa<\/em> to Allah increase\u00a0dramatically. \u00a0Sometimes it only takes a hurricane to help us all place things into perspective. Thank you Allah\u00a0for giving us\u00a0all these\u00a0blessings.<\/p>\n \u2014 Amira, Springfield, VA<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019m sitting on the edge of the couch, as CNN reporters are giving live coverage of Sandy\u2019s worst paths of destruction. All I see is torrential rains, deadly winds, and the red text at the bottom of the screen, telling me where the storm is headed. Massachusetts, where my mom and sister live, Atlantic City, Newark; all too close to my former home in Clifton, NJ, where there is more of my family.\u00a0\u00a0Although I was oceans away from this storm I am still frightened by it. That night I had nightmares of being caught in it and trying desperately to get my family to high ground from the flooding. I awoke tired and worried. Had my family made it through the storm? I wouldn\u2019t be able to find out for hours.\u00a0I kept thinking of how the Prophet Muhammad used to be terrified when he saw dark storm clouds heading in his direction. He was afraid the wrath of Allah was upon them, like it destroyed the people of Ad, as the Quran tells us:\u00a0\u201cThen when they saw it as a dense cloud coming towards their valleys, they said: \u2018This is a cloud bringing us rain!\u2019 Nay but it is that torment which you were asking to be hastened! A wind wherein is a painful torment! Destroying everything by the command of its Lord!\u201d (Chapter 46). I just kept Praying for this storm not to be from the wrath of Allah.<\/p>\n \u2014 Christina,\u00a0Luxembourg<\/em><\/p>\n Ten days have gone by, four\u00a0of which were spent by the fireplace or in bed reading\u00a0by candlelight. The remaining six, relishing in all things electric as soon as the power was back on. Thinking it\u2019s about time\u00a0to lend a hand,\u00a0I\u00a0gathered\u00a0a few\u00a0bags of cleaners, toiletries and blankets\u00a0and tagged along with\u00a0my sister\u00a0to donate\u00a0the items\u00a0to a shelter in Little Ferry,\u00a0NJ,\u00a0one of the towns hit hardest by Sandy.<\/p>\n St. Margaret\u2019s Church was a safe haven for the area, working as a shelter first and now a pantry, stocked\u00a0with every item you would find at your local Walmart. I\u00a0noticed\u00a0that as people came in to donate bags upon bags of necessities, there were only about five or ten\u00a0people going through the aisles,\u00a0filling up their cardboard box to take home or, as I realized later in the day, the place they used to call home.<\/p>\n The\u00a0female volunteer\u00a0at the front table drove up from Michigan the night before to\u00a0help out\u00a0here. Many of us\u00a0who live just 5 minutes away have only shared pictures and facebook status\u2019 of the devastation and then gone back to our normal lives. About to do just that, I went home,\u00a0but as I finished eating my late breakfast my dad asked me for a favor. He rents out a house in Little Ferry, where\u00a0the tenants are a couple who have been displaced since day one. \u00a0They were at a nearby bus stop and needed a ride. The dreaded Nor\u2019easter snowfall had already begun when I picked them up.<\/p>\n As I drove them to Home Depot, they told me\u00a0their story.\u00a0As\u00a0the storm\u00a0started up,\u00a0the husband\u00a0thought about moving his car to higher ground.\u00a0He went to get his coat\u00a0but\u00a0when he got to the front door,\u00a0it was too late,\u00a0the water had\u00a0already\u00a0risen to a foot and a half. He and his wife\u00a0watched,\u00a0unable to\u00a0stop four\u00a0feet of water\u00a0from\u00a0seeping\u00a0through the floorboards\u00a0and windows of the house. It all happened\u00a0in\u00a0less than\u00a015 minutes.\u00a0The first floor of their two-story\u00a0home was gone, just like that.\u00a0The 325 sand bags\u00a0he surrounded the house with did nothing.<\/p>\n We left Home Depot with a propane heater and rat poison (for the squirrels that entered the attic) and on the way home, they told me that the heater was not necessarily for them, but to dry out the house. Town officials had begun marking homes as uninhabitable due to mold that had already begun to form in the walls. They came home after a few days at the shelter to watch over their belongings since looters began circling the town and taking valuables. The house had literally been turned upside down and inside out.\u00a0Every piece of furniture, appliances, and nearly every belonging were\u00a0damaged. They tried their best,\u00a0laying\u00a0things out flat to dry, knowing that\u00a0there\u2019s most likely no saving\u00a0them. A computer administrator by occupation, the husband had thousands of dollars worth of computers destroyed before he could move them all in time.\u00a0He put them out\u00a0in the back for FEMA to look at, but when he came home later that day, they had all been stolen. He pointed to a paper taped to a wall unit 6 feet up of the ground, the first dry thing I saw there. He proudly explained\u00a0that\u00a0he went to New York the day before the storm hit\u00a0and got a signature from a\u00a0Fox News lady I never heard of.\u00a0His car, and his wife\u2019s car both still have a full tank of gas, but since\u00a0the flood destroyed them, they\u2019re both now used as storage.<\/p>\n We headed out to the propane shop to fill up a tank for the heater. Electricity won\u2019t be restored to their house along with 5 others on the block\u00a0until\u00a0every house replaces their circuit breaker box (which will cost\u00a0at\u00a0least\u00a0$1000). While getting power back was at the top of our list, it was\u00a0the least of their worries.<\/p>\n Today they were wearing\u00a0clothes that were donated\u00a0from the church. When I offered to bring them to the church to restock on food\u00a0and supplies, they declined.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s too emotional,\u201d\u00a0the wife said.\u00a0I didn\u2019t quite understand that and\u00a0went on to tell her how helpful and sweet the volunteers were. She responded with \u201cI just can\u2019t go again, it\u2019s embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n We hugged goodbye for the day after we ran a few more errands. On my way home, I put myself in her shoes and could not fathom the idea, so I stopped trying and just prayed for them.<\/p>\n \u2014 Safura, Paramus, NJ<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hurricane Sandy came down\u00a0fast and furious. \u00a0We know it affected millions of people, even those that did not live in its\u2019\u00a0direct\u00a0path. \u00a0The destruction was widespread, and many estimate\u00a0it will cost billions of dollars. \u00a0But we\u00a0know its\u2019 real cost will exceed any dollar amount. \u00a0Just ask the family who lost the bottom floor of their house […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1573,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[238,319,424,438,577,581,856,867,1071,1380],"class_list":["post-4866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-growmama-roundup","tag-community-outreach","tag-devastation","tag-fema","tag-flooding","tag-humanitarian-work","tag-hurricane-sandy","tag-new-jersey","tag-no-power","tag-relying-on-allah","tag-virginia"],"yoast_head":"\n