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Kandi's Full Interview

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Kandi Dardar

Dardar Home

Pointe-au-Chien, Louisiana

February 23, 2012

Interviewer: If you could just tell me your name and where you’re from.

Kandi: I’m Kandi Dardar and I’m from Louisiana, Montegut.

Interviewer: Have you lived here your whole life?

Kandi: Yeah.

Interviewer: How old were you when the oil spill happened?

Kandi: Thirteen.

Interviewer: Where were you when you heard that an oil spill had happened?

Kandi: I was at home, watching TV, daily. It was on Channel 4 that we heard it, like, my daddy’s  been hearing that all day long, but I didn’t know. But when it actually came down to TV, that’s when I actually heard it.

Interviewer: What did it feel like when you heard that?

Kandi: Tragic, because, like, we were going to be missin’ out on catching that we could be making, but it’s destroying the vegetation that the wetlands are already losing, so it’s like, bad.

Interviewer: Did you actually see any oil here?

Kandi: Daddy had went out in a boat and went to spots, I don’t know. Well, he took off some samples from the oil on the actual wetlands. So they did, it was comin’ in.

Interviewer: Can you explain what you dad does?

Kandi: He catches seafood, like, he goes crabbing—well, he puts out a trap and catches crabs. He goes oystering, sometimes fishing and shrimping. That’s what he mainly does. So if he has something wrong, he will go out and see what it is.

Interviewer: Did that change after the oil spill? How so?

Kandi: I think it brought up a new problem that we was already facin’, mainly with the erosion, and it messed up the way we were supposed to go out and catch what we need to make a profit. So it was bad.

Interviewer: Did it have any other effects on your family besides your dad not being able to fish?

Kandi: The income.

Interviewer: Has that come back now?

Kandi: A little. I mean, we could have been out there working, but with the oil spill, it put a setback.

Interviewer: Do you ever go out with your dad? What’s it like when you go out there?

Kandi: It’s fun. You get the water in your face, first of all, in the boat. It’s fun. We have fun.

Interviewer: Did you go out with him at all in the year after the oil spill?

Kandi: No. We mainly do it right here, in the bayou. But I used to go out with him in Paude, but not anymore.

Interviewer: So that’s something you’re missing out on now?

Kandi: Yeah.

Interviewer: Did it change any of the foods that you traditionally eat?

Kandi: I’m still kind of unsure whether to eat it or not, ‘cause BP says the oil is clean, the water’s clean, but it’s not. I don’t know, it just depends.

Interviewer: Are there things that you still don’t eat or that you eat less of?

Kandi: I eat little crabs now, but everything else is fine, I still eat it.

Interviewer: Thinking about you and people your age in this community, can you think of any ways that if affected teenagers and kids maybe differently than the people that actually work directly on the bayou and out in the Gulf?

Kandi: The kids do go out and work. They do it sometimes to go shopping. But the kids will be, like, more out than helping. It’s different. But— [pause] Like, kids, you would go out with them. But now that, they don’t really go out. That’s just not the way it used to be.

Interviewer: When the oil spill happened, did you find that a lot of people from BP or a lot of people from the cleanup were suddenly in your community? Did that change?

Kandi: Yeah, like, I didn’t know they had BP workers, so when it happened, a lot of them down here volunteered, not getting paid, they’d just go. It was a good thing. Then you get to see what they actually put out that was, like, thick and heavy, ‘cause they tried to clean it and it didn’t work, out on the bayou. There was a lot.

Interviewer: Do you think things are getting better now?

Kandi: It’s slowly goin’ back to what it was before. It’s not a great impact. It was bad, but they’re tryin’ to move on and get back. That’s one good thing.

Interviewer: Can you think of anything that has been done by the community or by the people who live here that has helped it to get better and helped it to get back towards what it was before?

Kandi: They just go cleaned and they raked and then they get back to work. They don’t go out shrimping no more, not a lot, especially not when it happened. Like, they just did nothin’.

Interviewer: Do you think that the adults, your teachers and your parents and the elders in the community, did a good job of explaining what was happening to you?

Kandi: They did.

Interviewer: How did they do that?

Kandi: Like, some of us already knew from their parents, ‘cause they would talk about it in relation to other parents. Like, they would just say little words to help you understand, especially to the younger ones that live here and all. Like, they would know, ‘cause the dad would be home more often than what they usually were. So they would know, so like, they would ask, and they’d just give them little words to explain.

Interviewer: Did you do anything in school talking about it?

Kandi: No, I just went back to, back to regular, ‘cause it’s already tough enough. I don’t want to keep talkin’ about it.

Interviewer: OK. Do you have any suggestions for things that could have made it easier, especially for kids and teens?

Kandi: Don’t give up, that’s one thing. [Pause.] Rely on what they give you, ‘cause it will work, not a lot, but it’s going to be gettin’ there. And, that’s all I have.

Interviewer: Do you think the oil spill and what’s going on with the wetlands loss changed how you think about this place and how you’re connected to this place?

Kandi: ‘Cause it’s very—you don’t want to lose this place, because it has a great culture, living and all. And with the oil spill and the erosion, the oil spill placed an impact on it, ‘cause I did a project on it, so I found out details, and I was surprised.

Interviewer: Can you explain a little bit about how the oil plays an impact on it, since you did a project?

Kandi: That’s was one part of it that causes erosion, the other one was salt water intrusion. Like, I guess from the oil, like, it tinkers with it and it makes it—it makes the marsh die, so. Like, if you saw it on TV, it’s all brown, so it would die, lots.

Interviewer: Do you want to stay here as you get older?

Kandi: I do, ‘cause it’s my life, it’s my home. I only know this place. I love it.

Interviewer: What do you think you’ll do? Are you going to fish like your dad? Are you going to do something else?

Kandi: I’m going to do that on the weekends, if I have time, but I’m gonna do it. I’m going to have my other job, but I also want to do this. I’m not going to do a lot like my daddy does, but I’m going to do some.

Interviewer: What are some of the things that make this place special?

Kandi: The seafood, and the way they put the spices in, the way it looks, the wetlands, the water, the animals in the water.

Interviewer: Is there anything else you want to add, any other suggestions for people that might be going through something like this in the future?

Kandi: It will get better at some time but not truly. You just have to deal with it first. It will slowly get better, but it will to a good spot.

Interviewer: Anything else you want to say about this place?

Kandi: Come travel here.