Interview: “Elberta's story: A humor moment” - - A survivor's story: How does it really feel?

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(Oral Histories of the American South, Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. More about the recording)
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Transcript

We had five children at the time, and, me and my husband and five kids, and the house that we were in was a two bedroom house; we were renters, we wasn’t buyers, buyers and home owners. I would pray, because when I left Maryland I had a big house, and when I got here I was kind of disappointed. But my husband was, “We’re going to buy a home. We’re going to buy a home.” And I was like, “Well, Lord, I can’t believe you had me come down here in this little house like this, you know.” But the Lord just told me to trust him. So when I was, I woke up—they took us when we left here from the flood to the shelter. It was at Burgaw Middle School. And I woke up that morning, and I just was overwhelmed, and the tears just came. I said, “Well, Lord, I asked you for more space.” And I look and I see all of us had our own cots, you know, “but I didn’t expect you to give us more space.” But it gave me joy. It was a humor moment. So, you know, it wasn’t nothing but Him that was giving me peace in it. But it was just so humorous when you—he didn’t say you’ve got to be persistent or you’ve got to be precise about what you want. So I did ask for more space, and I had more space at the shelter, but that wasn’t my idea when I asked him. [EH is laughing.]

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