I believe (despite the fact that this is my first work trip here) that this trip has been unlike all others that have come before us. We share many things in common with the Boulder UCC groups that have preceded us – not only do we have members who have been here before, but we bring with us the intent passed along by many back in Boulder. However, like all trips, we have our own special twists to the experience. An example:
Thursday, because of logistics and whatnot, I split from my group (team #1) and traveled down to the worksites with one of the other two teams. We were running a touch late, but acknowledged the fact that beignets were necessary for maintaining our bodies, minds and spirits. So, as I attempted to navigate our way to the French Quarter to stop at Café du Monde, I managed to not only get us off the intended route, but also almost ran over a man working on the street wearing a bright orange vest.
As I drove closer, I realized that not only did he look familiar, but it was Herb, the dad of the family who will be living in the house we are rebuilding. After he figured out who we were, we went on our way. For me, this brought home the fact the St. Bernard Project is providing a way for families to get back into their homes while still maintaining their jobs.
Thursday also saw us take our Americorps site leaders out to lunch. These young adults have sacrificed huge amounts of their lives to spend it helping others. Without them, I think that the St. Bernard Project would not have made the huge progress they have so far (128 families back into their own homes with approximately 30 in progress and a huge waitlist.) Lunch was the least we could do.
Thursday afternoon, we went back to the St. Bernard Project offices and met with Liz McCartney. She helped to answer many questions that we had and gave us many insights into the lives of the people in the area. I didn’t take a picture, but you can read more about her at http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/05/08/heroes.mccartney/index.html and see a video about her that was shown on CNN recently. Speaking for myself, it seems that St Bernard Project is doing a lot of things right and allowing a huge number of people to assist them in helping huger numbers of folks.
On our way home, we attempted a tour of some of the locations near by, which included getting lost and also finding our way to a house that people on the first Boulder UCC trip worked on. Unfortunately, it has not progressed any since that trip and is currently being managed by the local government, likely to be sold or demolished. While there, we ran into a local newspaper writer/photographer (who’s name escapes me) who talked to us a little about the state of the neighborhood. In the block we visited, he said that there only a couple of people living in the area.Afterwards, we were treated to a dinner by our hosts at St Paul’s. In addition to filling our bellies, they also told us all about what they do, the struggles they encounter and some of the support they have gotten from around the country. This assistance means the world to many of these people who feel rejected and abandoned by their government and country.
Friday, my team went back to our house and did a lot of finishing work: including texturing, priming and applying the first coat of paint. We really feel like we made a lot of progress this week, but again, we were extremely lucky to have come in on the project at a very productive stage.
During the day, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Carmelite, her husband Herb and their daughter Dakota. Dakota had been in the emergency room all night last night, but still was in great spirits when we saw her. Since she’s having her fifth birthday party this weekend, we bought some small gifts and gave then to Carmelite to give to her. Here’s a picture of Dakota out front. She’s pretty camera-shy. ;-)Afterwards, Jean and I wandered around the Lower 9th, visited the levees around the Mississippi and wandered around.
While it made us run a bit late for dinner, we did make a stop at a house that a previous group (the second, I think) had worked on Burbank Street. We were pleased to find a work permit in the window and fresh drywall inside.So, despite the fact that we can’t always see it or the fact that sometimes the work doesn’t bring about what we’d like, there is progress going on, and we’ve now had a had in it.
This will probable be my last post from New Orleans as we leave tomorrow, so I will end with the following comments from Zack at the St Bernard Project:
Remember that the people down here want two things:
1. Know that the people down here a good people and work hard to take care of themselves
2. Don’t forget them.
For these two things, all I can add is that we need to not only keep coming down here to work and sending money to get this area back to where is should but we also need to be coming down here to show the people of New Orleans that we haven’t forgotten about them.
-Jim Arnow, NOLA 5, Team #1
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