Zeitoun’s Profound Dedication to New Orleans

Zeitoun’s profound dedication to New Orleans

“He wanted to see everything that had happened and would happen with his own eyes. He cared about this city and believed in his heart he could be of use (Eggers 108).” Abdulrahman Zeitoun grew up in Syria with a hardworking family and wanted to be able to be held to the same respect as his late, world renowned, older brother, Mohammed. Abdulrahman, who goes by Zeitoun, worked as hard as he could to give his family everything they needed and more. His family’s reputation meant the world to him, as well as his ability to make everybody trust and love him as well as his work as a painter and carpenter in Louisiana. After living in New Orleans for almost twenty years, Zeitoun couldn’t begin to contemplate not helping with the rebuild from Hurricane Katrina, even after he was treated so poorly and wrongly incarcerated in his adopted city.

Mohammed Zeitoun was the world’s fastest swimmer, but he died while he was in his twenties by a drunk driver. Everybody in Zeitoun’s family aspired to be like him, not swim like him, but accomplish as much as possible and always work as hard as they could to reach their goals. The Zeitoun name has never been disgraced, therefore Zeitoun couldn’t even begin to imagine letting people know that he was in a maximum-security prison, because he wouldn’t want his family name’s reputation ruined. His innocence didn’t change his thoughts on being in prison, the simple fact that he was there was a disgrace in it’s own. Even though he was treated extremely poorly in prison and was highly humiliated, New Orleans meant too much to him to give up on it so easily. “He cared about the city and believed in his heart he could be of use (108).” When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, Zeitoun deeply believed he could be of assistance in the search and rescue aspect of the aftermath. The fan boats were too loud to even remotely hear the nearby citizen’s screaming for help, but Zeitoun could easily hear their screams for help in his aluminum second-hand canoe. Zeitoun has been and always will be there for everybody and everything he has ever met, no matter how short the amount of time he’s known them was.

New Orleans became Zeitoun’s new life shortly after getting off his ship, “Andromeda” for the last time in Houston, Texas in 1988 (146). There, he met Kathy and Zachary and created their family. After being in New Orleans for almost 20 years, it has truly become a part of Zeitoun and his family. Family is not always perfect, but they are always there for you, therefore you need to always be there for them. This could have easily been Zeitoun’s mindset after Hurricane Katrina hit and drastically destroyed New Orleans.