DAPHNE — Some of Mia El-Hamaki’s favorite childhood memories are of the old oak trees where she used to play with her sister.

But that was another state, another life ago.

That’s when her family lived in Mississippi, before they evacuated for Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and moved to the Eastern Shore.

Katrina memories are never far away for El-Hamaki, 13, despite the the geographical distance now between her and Bay St. Louis.

Because they didn’t decide until late to evacuate, her family took mostly clothes and other daily essentials.

“We were thinking that everything else would be fine — or at least safe — when we returned home,” she said. “But things didn’t work out that way. I just wish we had gotten more of the things that really mean something to our family.”

Her home wasn’t the only one devastated by the wind and storm surge, El-Hamaki said.

Neighbors who tried to ride out the storm ended up almost dying in their attic, where they had taken refuge from the rising flood waters, she said.

Others in the area weren’t so lucky and lost their lives, El-Hamaki said.

“When we came back, there had been water that was 9 feet deep in it and so much disgusting, smelly mud,” she said. “It was like our house had become a blender and everything was all shaken up.”

The smell still hasn’t left her.

“If I do open up the scrapbook that I took with me, I immediately smell that smell and I just can’t get it out of my nose,” El-Hamaki said. “It brings back some really, really bad memories.”

El-Hamaki said that she and her family — including her mother, sister and grandparents — made a conscious decision to move ahead with their lives.

Part of that was their decision to move to Daphne in September 2005, she said.

“It was a real blessing for us to get into this school; Everyone here has been so welcoming and wonderful,” El-Hamaki said, explaining that her sister Sahra is in sixth grade at Christ the King.

“I still remember how all the kids wanted to help me right from the very first day,” she said. “That was important because I was kind of nervous and a little shaky from all that we’d been through.

“Now, I’m more glad than ever that we made this move and that we have been so blessed in our new home.”

Although she still recalls how bad the oak trees looked after the storm, El-Hamaki wasn’t ready to give up on them — or her own life.

“It is hard, for every living thing, to go through a major hurricane like Katrina,” she said.

“The last time I saw them (oak trees), there were no leaves anywhere, but at least they were still there — and that counts for a lot,” El-Hamaki said with a smile. “I like to think that by now, they are big and beautiful again,” she added.

“And I also think that my faith has become stronger through all of this. If the oak trees can make it through the hurricanes, I’ll do my best to make it too.”

Roots are important, she said.

“I think one of the reasons that my family has made it is because we do have strong roots,” El-Hamaki said.

Local folks who’ve gotten to know El-Hamaki since she moved here think that she exemplifies that same strong spirit, inner strength and physical beauty.

Ruth Rutkowski, who does public relations for the school, said that there’s something very special about this young woman.

“She is wise, just so wise beyond her years,” Rutkowski said. “I think we could all learn a lesson from Mia and her family about how they have chosen to live their lives,” she said.

“She is not a Katrina survivor; Mia is a thriver and we are all so proud of her,” Rutkowski said. “She is truly a beautiful work of God, just like these wonderful oak trees.”