new orleans

Pure destruction left from Hurricane Katrina

I know people are waiting for this post, but I don't think I am ready to write it. But as we said in New Orleans, I will "boy it up" and try. to get things started, I am changed forever. I thought our group did a really good job preparing for what we would encounter when we got there, but we soon found out that nothing could prepare us enough. The hurt and devistation are still so greater than most people know.

Tearing down walls

Our first work order was to work gutting a boxing gym/community center. This is sort of a long term project that every team works on for at least one day. when we arrived on the site, the coors of the center had been spray painted and said "We will box again." that was encouraging because it showed a little bit of the hope that the city still had. The gym was on a street called "community," but the entire street was vacent. Just driving to and from our work site every day, I felt physically sick. It was so much to process and I couldn't get over how bad things still were after a year and a half. The problem is that people think New Orleans is being rebuilt faster than it actually is, so they stop coming to help. This thinking is not true. Now, more than ever, does New Orleans need volunteers to gut and rebuild houses, and just to be there and show support for it's people.

Hope after Hurt

Our second work order for the week was to gut an entire duplex that hadn't been touched since the hurricane. The lady that lived in this house hadn't been back yet because it was just too much for her. I called her the day before we started her house and she met us there for the first time. She originally told me (I was the team leader) to save whatever was salvagable and that she would take it, but se ended up leaving empty handed because the memories were too much. She was an amazing person to talk to and it helped me so much from an emotional standpoint just to put a face on new orleans.

Sharon, the home owner

Gutting literally means that we take everythin out of the house and strip it down to the studs. This was so hard for us because we had to pull out matresses, kids school books, clothes and even dishes that had made it through the storm. It was then that we realized that this wasn't just an abandoned house, but a home that people lived in...a home that was full of memories, both good and bad. After pulling out everything that we could, we entered the house armes with hammers, crow bars and sledge hammers to knock out the walls. This was the most satisfying work because we were able to literally take out all of our anger and frusteration on Katrina.

Our team after gutting the entire house...out gut pile was about 12 feet tall

Our third and final project was to help a man move into a FEMA trailor. This was more of the compassion side of what the organization we worked with did. This man, Michele, had survives the hurricanes on his house roof for 5 days before he was rescued. He then moved in with a friend when that house was destroyed by the recent tornados. With a broken arm from the tornados, he had been living in a hotel room that had been donated, without any food or anything, for the past three days. We moved him into a FEMA trailor park, gave him the little bit of food and drinls that we ha left from the day, and then he asked if we could pray with him. He told us that before this day, he was ready to give up. After meeting us and praying with us, he had hope. We gave him hope.

Michele after we helped him move into a FEMA trailor

I'm sorry this is so long...and I still haven't touched on so many other things that are so important. All of you still faithfullreaders can expect the next couple of posts to be about New Orleans. I absolutly fell in love with that city. There is no way that this trip satisfied my longing to continuously make a difference...I will be going back at every chance I get. Hopefully, the next chance will not be far away.

Our bunkhouse...we stayed with about 75 other girls each night