A Village Called Versailles

After watching the documentary in class, I was both amazed and sadden at the events that had occurred. To be honest, it was my first time watching the entire documentary. I was familiar with the contents but the documentary placed a picture to those words and thoughts. Personally, I thought the documentary was very accurate in portraying the Vietnamese community. The Church is practically the basis of the Vietnamese community. Most of the residents in Versailles are first, second, or third generation of Americans. Many have come a long way from their sufferings. For the people, the Church was their place of comfort. The Church shelter the people and casted away their sorrows and sufferings. As a result, the number of residents grew and progressed towards forming a community.

 For the most part, the residents are closed off from the rest of the city. Many prefer to remain in their place, as they have no need to interact with the outside world. In addition, the Vietnamese felt neglected in their early years. Subsequently, the Vietnamese community grew to be independent. Versailles had its own market, business, and Church. All necessities for life were provided for the people in a little area in New Orleans East. But that all changed with Katrina. Katrina tore through Versailles and shattered the lives of many residents. It was a tragedy but the Vietnamese community are no strangers to disaster. The people recovered from their lost and started to rebuild their community. As the documentary pointed out, New Orleans East was among the first to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Although Katrina had a devastating impact on the community, I believed Katrina brought many changes that were for the better. Most of the residents have returned and the community has grown to perceived the outside world a little better. Overall, I really like the documentary a lot. Personally, it was more than the story that spoke to me. While watching the documentary, I felt that I was at peace. I have interacted with most of the people that the documentary has shown. After that conclusion, I realized that Versailles is my community, my home and I couldn’t be happier anywhere else.