There are no bathrooms as such in the tent city. Clusters of Porta-Johns serve 1,300. Helping the children is a must. The seats are high and young bottoms tiny. Without someone to hold onto, it is frightening. It is routine to see men and women go down the line of toilets, opening and shutting them like Goldilocks in search of the perfect chair. Hand-washing water is not handy, hanging from punching-bag containers hundreds of feet away.
Valerie Vernon knows the rest of the world is watching. And can't possibly understand what it is like. "We've sat and watched television and seen disasters in other places. And you feel affected. You feel emotional about it. And then you get up and go about your life. You don't really get the impact of what is happening.
"I remember sitting and watching Hurricane Hugo on TV, but it never occurred to me what it actually does to people's lives' "
"I laugh at everything," Kysha Vernon says. "I feel if I laugh, I won't cry."
The family scrounges for information and news of something with four real walls. They talk of moving on if something doesn't come together soon. "I'd hate to go," says Valerie. "I've got a good job. I like South Dade. I was happy here. We were happy here. We were looking to maybe next year buying a house, trying to get a HUD home.
