Now that I’m back home in Denver (with my own computer and reliable internet connection!), I thought I’d do a wrapping-up sort of post and upload some pictures.

I have more things to say about New Orleans than I can–here or anywhere–but there are a few things I want to touch on.

People have been asking how this trip changed me, which is a really loaded question and hard to answer with only a teeny bit of what my writing professor last term would call “Temporal Distance.” I can start with things that I got from the trip, though, and see where that takes us.

I went into the experience expecting the city and the work to change me. They did, of course, but the people I worked with were equally as important to my experience–both the Knox people I got to know and the HandsOn volunteers who worked alongside us. Everyone I worked with was positive and inspiring. I learned to respect and appreciate Knox students much more than I ever had before. (In fact, there were students working at HandsOn from a more prestigious college that I applied to and chose not to attend. They were very nice and all, but they just weren’t Knox people.)
I fell in love with the city while I was there. There are several practical reasons why I could never live in New Orleans (for example, the seeming lack of affordable vegetarian food and the humidity), but it’s definitely a city I want to travel to in the future. I want to do service projects there again. I want to spread the love all over the city.

Obviously, the trip put me into a lot of situations I had never experienced before. I had never wielded a crowbar or maneuvered a wheelbarrow before. I had never shared a living space with 40 other women before. I had never been on lockdown before. (A teenage boy was shot and killed two blocks from where we were working on Friday–not to scare all you parents or anything.)

I got to talk to a lot of people. Everyone I talked to told me to go back and tell everyone that New Orleans still needs help. Things are not okay.

Now, all these things won’t necessarily fit together into a cumulative lesson, but here’s an attempt. Having left New Orleans, the most striking change is this: I now have so much more respect for small groups of motivated people working to make change. At first I was terribly frustrated by the enormity of the work to be done, but I learned to appreciate the difference we were making.

I love the people of New Orleans so much. They live in a very southern culture but are very open-minded, social, loving, beautiful, compassionate, and strong. I got a sticker there that says Be a New Orleanian, Wherever You Are. And I feel like I can rightfully stick it on something. I love that sticker. I feel like I became a bit New Orleanian sometime this month.

Before I post the pictures, I have just one more thing to say. If you’ve been keeping up with the blog and want to help, I would encourage you to do so in any way you’re able. There are tons of organizations–HandsOn included–that are powered only by donations of time and money. The economy in New Orleans is obviously suffering, so maybe it’s worth considering vacationing there.

The best thing you can do, though, and what the citizens of New Orleans want us all to do, is remember them. And talk about it.
On with the pictures. Pardon the quality in some cases; a few were taken with my cell phone.

This is the house my mom and I worked on with Habitat for Humanity a few days before the rest of the Knox people arrived. There was a whole group of middle-aged men and women from a local law firm working with us that day. And guess what? The wrap on the house is made out of the same material as our protective gutting suits!

Me with a coping saw with Habitat. Please note the awesome toolbelt I got to wear. I became a baseboard expert that day. When I was working on the gut, I had to become an expert at prying off and hauling out baseboards.

This was a bald eagle that was just hanging out on this tree in the backyard of the property:

Here’s the house on Marengo Street that we gutted the first week. I took this picture the day we finished and I had to stand all the way on the opposite street corner and I still couldn’t fit all the rubble into the picture.

Brittany insisted I take her picture in this sad-looking room in Sue’s house:

Elliot and Lyle tried to eat 8 scoops of ice cream and 8 toppings apiece at the Creole Creamery. Had they succeeded, they would have gotten their names engraved on a plaque on the wall. I admire their efforts.

Well, the trip is over and we’re all back home now, but I’d like to revisit this past week that I didn’t get a chance to blog about.Wednesday, as some other people posted, was an absolutely amazing day where Timberland brought together 400 volunteers to do various projects in two blocks of Central City in one day. Now, most of them weren’t tasks that can be finished in day, as very little in New Orleans is, but it was an amazing group of people creating more opportunities for the beauty of that special city to shine through. My group was working on soil remediation, which involved digging up the sod in a plot of land about 3/4 the size of a soccer field near a school to plant mustard greens and sunflowers that will extract some of the poisonous amounts of lead in the soil. The lead is proven to lower children’s IQs so doing this planting will help make it a safer and more scenic place for these kids. The awesome Hands On crew had started digging on Monday…continued in the rain on Tuesday…and we finally finished digging on Wednesday. However, it was a lot of fun and we sang as we jumped on our shovels to dig up the stubborn sod. I also got to show off the wheelbarrelling skills I developed from years of riding and taking care of horses - Kudi, our fabulous Team Leader, even nominated me for a “Stud Award,” which are announced at each community meeting. It was a great day.

On Thursday I participated in another gut. A camera crew from TNT came and filmed us tearing down ceilings and digging up rubble and chatting about the dangers of fire ants on our water break with very dirty faces. Before, during and after the basketball game that night, TNT aired clips of us working in conjunction with some great publicity footage featuring Charles Barkley, who came down to to New Orleans on Wednesday to help out. The Hands On PR lady was extremely psyched for the coverage because goodness knows they need the publicity, but most importantly, this city needs national coverage to let people know that no, fifteen months later they are still not okay and need help to rebuild their community.

Then Friday was our last day in New Orleans, which was very bittersweet. I was excited to get to go back to our little plot of land we’d dug up on Wednesday to till the soil, plant the seeds, and cover it all over with mulch. We were done with that by early afternoon - very satisfied with our work - and then some of us went to help paint the adjacent playground fence or to clear away debris in the vacant lot next to the house a team was gutting across the street. I was amazed at all of the things that ended up tangled in the weeds next to that house that did not belong there: bicycle tires, boots, T-shirts, a car battery, and plenty of wildlife (a rat, a giant spider, a snake, a lizard, and some snails).

It was really hard to leave the city after living and working there for nearly two weeks. I’d never stayed so long anywhere without intending to stay for a while so it started to feel normal. It still frustrated me to no end to drive around there because I always got lost, but I started to get more of a sense of place and direction. I learned from returning visitors and the Hands On crew about some good places to go (like the Creole Creamery - some of the richest ice cream in the most varied flavors) and discovered some of my own. Like most people in my group, I really want to go back. The city really does stick to you, as one T-shirt claimed. In that way, it’s also a bit strange to be back home. I still haven’t processed all of this, but I’m working on it. All I know is that this was an irreplaceably important experience and I am grateful for it and all of its future ramifications on my life.

I encourage anyone who can to call Hands On and go down to NOLA, if only for a few days, to see what it’s all about and why it’s so worth working for. And even if you don’t want to participate in a service project, you can help bolster the economy by being a tourist and following the new campaign of buying “souveniers, not beers.”

The first house we gutted with its huge debris pile that, by the fourth day extended all along the side of the house as well. It looks fine from the outside but due to the mold and ceiling damage, it’s uninhabitable, like so many houses down there.

The field we de-sodded and planted. I’m so proud of it.

I was in New Orleans last March on the first relief trip. I attached some pictures of the Lower 9th Ward below from March and then December 10th when I took students down to see what’s left of the community. The changes were intense. There are no words . . .

March 2006 (curtousy of Andy Fitz)

December 10, 2006 - The same area of the Lower 9th Ward, the houses have just been demolished

March 2006 - The mound of dirt at the end of the road is where the levees were breached during the hurricane

December 2006 - The levees as they stand today. They have absolutely no reinforcements and are basically just slabs of cement between the canal and the community. They are level 2 and 3 at various areas along the canal.

This was on the side of the levee, “New Orleans gave me patience and passion”

A sign that says it all, “Rebuild Category 5 Levees”

December 2006 - This house at 6122 N Derbingy belongs to a woman named Lisa. She, her mother, and her aunt used to live here. A white house used to be in the lot to the right of it - it is now demolished and a FEMA trailer stands in its wake. Last spring when I was first down in New Orleans - we spent 4 days working on this house. It was very emotionally taxing as we had to remove all of Lisa’s personal items and throw them away. Through the process we got to know she was very fashionable as she had a closet that took up a whole wall of shoes, hats, and clothes that were so packed in the closet - Whitney Bey and I had a hard time getting them out. The family was very religious and musical. We found and had to throw out about 2 dozen Bibles and even more gospel cassette tapes.

Whitney and I returned to this house about a week ago and peeked inside through the screen door . . . it was exactly the same as it had been when our spring break crew last worked on it in march. The refrigerator that we could not move was still in the same position, the drywall we had not knocked down was still up, and debris was still strewn all over the floor.

One of the changes I did see in the Lower 9th Ward in December compared to March was that there were makeshift street signs, whereas in March - there was nothing

December - A house that was crippled to the ground about two blocks from the levees

December - The interior of the house in the picture above

One of the biggest changes I saw on my trip down there last week was that about 4 crews of FEMA garbage collectors were picking up piles of debris in the Lower 9th Ward. That was unheard of in March.

Never forget New Orleans. There is still so much to do for the rebuilding process and it will take such a long time. Basic freedoms of liberty and shelter are being denied to NOLA residents. This could happen in any American city and is happening in numerous international cities. Please don’t be ignorant about the politics surrounding New Orleans and what’s going on in the world. Read nationally and internationally, do research, know all sides to every issue, stay knowledgeable.

WOW!! AWESOME!

I feel in a way that I am at a loss of words.  We leave the day after tomarrow so basically only one day left.  This has been an experience that I wish everyone could have (and I think YOU definately should).  It’s an experience that makes you think: think about others, think about the environment and think about yourself. 

I have not blogged in a long time, sadly I know, because there have been so many ups and downs through out this entire experience as I have learned should be involved in any true super fantabulous experience! When I first heard about the opportunity to go to New Orleans my gut reaction was like WOW that totally would be a great experience.  However, I did stop and second guess my gut reaction because I was honestly a bit scared of doing something so different and incredibly challenging without anyone that I was really knew! I’m so glad that I did…I’m glad that I took the challenge because I have gained new super awesome friends (plus my big sisters!!) and have gained a love for the people of New Orleans.  There is a magical spirit here that is just amazing: full of heart and sould and Music and celebration!!!

So I’m trying to think back to the few days since I last blogged. Well I guess I’ll start with our free day.  First in the morning I went with a group to the Aquarium it was neat! I love aquariums…anyway we then wanted a taste of New Orleans food so we went to a food market/sit down and eat place called “Cajun Seafood.”  That was a bad Idea because later I felt completely sick with immense stomach pains and headaches followed after that, but it didn’t stifle the power of enthusiasm!!! For the rest of the week we continued to complete more demolding and gutting projects and then on Wednesday we worked with a Timberland project.  Besides Knox and Hands On there were several other service and New Orleans organizations that worked on Timberland’s project as well (and we got T-shirts I LOVE t-shirts!!).  Knox students helped clean up a park for the children of New Orleans. The project that I participated was soil remediation.  We dug up a long (I cannot think of a good word to describe its length..lol)grassy field to plant mustard and sunflower seeds, which will help decrease the presence of lead in the soil (this will in affect help the well being of the children of New Orleans who play in the park).  Tomarrow I’m going back to plant the seeds.  I’m so excited! I really want to come back and see the plants grown and the children playing in the park (it is a long term project and the decrease in the presence of lead will not be noticable right away).

It was, is and forever will be a life changing experience.  It’s one of those experiences that will never leave you and it will only enrich every experiece you have after that! I’m not positive if this is my last blog but either way I’m glad I was able to have this experience, I’m glad I was able to make a difference to those in need here in New Orleans and I’m glad I was able to share my thoughts, opinions and response with the entire Knox community, which touches every part of the world!

Thank you so much for making this experience happen!

~Eileen

So my team de-molded another house today…

We had twenty people scraping the mold in one house…so there was lots of teamwork

And lots of mold…and lots of little creatures…

And some gross things…like toilets and showers…

And since there were so many of us, we had some free time…and Tyvek prtects you from everything, so we played in the dirt

But. We did work really hard. And this house desrved it. It was obviously really beautiful before, and it had a lot of mold and termites and water damage. And so we had another successful day! Hooray!

so i’m covered in tiny bug bites….

they are itchy…

they are burning…

i am dirty…

papa tony’s is done

papa tony montage:

darrell, call me back. call me back, darrell…

pasta and red sauce

porkchops for y’all

she don’t look like she don’t eat nothin’

what y’all eat?

baked macaroni

nice and hot for y’all

nostalgia phase complete.

went on an art museum expedition… there’s so much art, you know… a lot of it just doesn’t do it for me… like i don’t get that warm belly feeling that indicates most of my strongest emotions… like hunger….

anyhow, there was this children’s section… a lot of hover cars, a lot of dead dogs and cats, one boy who’s dad was left in jail, and one boy who said he would never be a refugee…

we went to an open mic at the urban cup cafe/zoo…

people are so interesting. the couple who own the place involved me in an argument about when he’d given her/ she’d stolen his school jacket…

i wonder if cafes are really all that artsy and cool… like honestly, there are so many and even though each is unique (assuming it’s not a starbucks) they all have the same rebellious, sleepless, tortured, incense scented message of “come eat dairyless pastries, children of Dionysis. come quaff of stimulants.”

so i refer to the urban cup as a zoo because the people there are so very different: a jamaican girl who apparently spoke english, a rasta man, a older guy playing idiot’s guide to violin, a folk singer, and a weasley man in white who i wrote off as a weirdo until i realized that he wrote his own songs and bought that hat he was wearing and put on socks in the morning and cooked…. people things, human things… people surprise you…

evan dropped a vase on me…

and i almost ran into charles barkley… he was in space jam…

im so ready for holiday cheer!

Here we are all suited up in Tyvek. This was the first crew I was in, de-molding Tony’s house. We look amazing.

Here’s the inside of Tony’s house. You can see its been gutted already, but you can’t see all the icky mold all over. Don’t worry…we’ll get rid of it, and the house will be safe again! Yay!

This is me, in my full Tyvek gear. Respirator, goggles, gloves…

This is a little bit of the pile outside Tony’s house. It got soooo much bigger…this is just some stuff form his attic.

De-molding is a difficult process. You have to be very fit. These are our Americorps Team Leaders, Jessica and Becky, keeping in shape for the job…

And here’s us, doing some Tyvek yoga…

There are three steps to molding:scraping off the mold, vacuuming up the mold, and wiping the remaining mold away with Pinesol. Here, Brooks demonstrates the proper use of Pinesol.

One night, we went to the Contemporary Art Center and saw some amazing children’s art about Katrina.

Here’s another one…

And another…

But keep in mind that New Orleans is still a really amazing, thriving city. The French Quarter is gorgeous.

Here’s the cathedral

And Jackson Square at night

This is my second project, the really big house that we partially gutted. It was beautiful.

Here’s Collete smashing in a wall…we demolished it together.

And here’s Elyse, very very dirty from taking out ceilings all day.

And finally, my pictures from today’s amazing Timberland event. Here’s Krista, Brooks, Evan and Sarah in their lovely event Tshirts

A huge crowd of volunteers (and a gorgeous mural) ready for a looooong day of work

Elyse and Rita hard at work in the soil remediation project…digging up the field to make room for plants

All the people digging digging digging…

And last but not least, Evan and Sam painting the lines for a soccer field

So those are all my pictures for now…look forward to updates!!! And feel free to comment and let me know what you want to see more of…we’re only here for two more days, but I am open to suggestions!!!! Yay for photos!

This is the best day of my life. And one of the reasons is that my pictures are finally loading!!!! WOOHOO! Now you can all see at least some of what we’re doing here. I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.

Also, today was the biggest volunteer event ever in New Orleans (or at least it felt that way). Hands On partnered with a few other organizations and Timberland to put on a huge event in Central City, which is a neighborhood here in New Orleans. There were literally hundreds of volunteers from multiple organizations working together. It was incredible. We did everything from playground cleanup to gutting more houses to building soccer fields and goals to soil remediation. I worked on the soil remediation project, which was really cool. There’s a big problem with lead in soil here, and Central City is a neighborhood that is especially contaminated. I don’t know the science of it all, but pretty exposure to lead in young children causes a drop in IQ. Which is really really bad. So we are planting mustard seed and sunflowers to extract the lead from the soil, therefore making it safe for kids to play. Its so amazing, and it was so much fun. And at lunch the Soul Rebels played…you should look them up if you don’t know them. They are an amazing New Orleans jazz group, they’re so talented I can’t even believe it. At the closing ceremony, they played again and this beat poet (I can’t remember his name exaclt.y…Hollywood something I think) performed an incredible poem he’d written about New Orleans. It was gorgeous. I can’t describe to you how empowering it was to be there with all those people and to see and hear and feel the passion of this city. So I won’t describe it…I’ll put up pictures! Here they are….enjoy!

The trees in New Orleans are thick and sturdy, branches stretching more horizontally than towards the sky. Their roots do not abide by the constraints of either the ground or the sidewalk that try to tame them into a submissive subterranean life. The trees are here to stay. I would like to think this is an analogy for the people of this unique city, but things do not line up quite so neatly. The people here are, on the whole, remarkably kind, particularly in the face of the sudden and overwhelming upheaval of their home. But life is very hard and depressed for them, and not everyone is in a position to deal with that in a sympathetic manner. With so much of the city’s structure and population still gone, I would love to have seen how it was before Katrina. I’ve spent most of the last week in Central City and the French Quarter, which is nowhere near normal working condition, however this evening we drove through the Lower Ninth, just South of the levee… and it’s not just not okay, it’s in utter, uninhabitable desolation for blocks and blocks. House after house has either been demolished and is now only a plot of dead grass, or is in near irreparable condition. Can any of you imagine just having your entire home completely wiped out? There is damage and then there is annhilation. Seeing that made me want to do absolutely anything to help these people.

On Saturday I had the privilege to meet one of the inspiring New Orleanians. Sue’s house had been half gutted to take care of the damage from the six inches of flooding she had and we were there to help her finish up gutting and de-mold. She had snuck back into the city from Texas 3 1/2 weeks after the hurricane and her two 20-something sons with autism and schizophrenia, respectively, moved back in with her, meaning there are 3 of them and a lot of stuff sharing the absolutely tiny government-provided trailer. And not only does she have to deal with her house and sons, but she has to take care of her mother’s things because her mother simply left the city after her house was flooded terribly. We ended up spending half the day helping her move things out of her house and organizing them in her storage unit, which wasn’t exactly what we were there for, but it was what she needed and we were glad to be helpful (my experience moving nearly every year of my life and having a lot of things in storage was particularly useful). She was so grateful for our help and said that all she wants is for us to let everyone know when we leave that New Orleans is NOT okay. It will take at least another 5-7 years to rebuild it and they cannot do it alone. I think everyone is aware that it will never be quite the same, but it is certainly worth working for.

Yes, it wasn’t originally the best idea to build a city below sea level, but centuries later these are people’s homes, communities, and lives - who is anyone else to say they shouldn’t rebuild that? And, more pertinently, who are we as Americans and as humans to not help them to the greatest extent of our abilities? Sure, we may not make a huge impact on the community in the two weeks the 40-something of us are here, but to those families who can start rebuilding their houses and their lives? We have been SO IMPORTANT. So, I was pretty down after driving through the Lower Ninth, and then we went to the Hands On community meeting and remembered that with all these fantastic volunteers who are here and motivated and skilled, we are, indeed, making a difference. This is shown in days like Friday when, on our fourth day of gutting that huge house, we stayed two extra hours - until it was dark - to get it totally finished and ready for de-molding. We may have been exhausted and subsequently dragged quite a bit the following day, but it was so satisfying, especially for the clapping that greeted our very dirty entrance to the Hands On meeting. I’m so grateful to be here.

I can’t believe we’re half way through!!!!

So far I have demolded 2 houses and is in the middle of gutting another house. Demolding does not take a lot of strength , but it takes so much time and does not have a lot action to it. I often find my mind drifting into space… 

On Saturday night we went to French Quarters. There was so many people!! We couldn’t  find a spot to park for two hours. The town seemed so empty in the day time but French Quarters was so alive! There were drunk people everywhere dancing, throwing beads and enjoying music. It was a strange world where stripper’s bars and artistic antique shops come together….When we finally found a place to park it was a restricted area. We were afraid that we will get a ticket but a man offered to watch the car for us. The man was both scary and nice at the same time. He was very smart. He began to explain to us the history of the block but every once in a while his head would come so close to us it was kind of scary…. He said somthing that was supposed to be ” I love you” in Japanese. I told him the correct Japanese for it and he just said “Oh, I missed a part”. It didn’t sound anything like what I had said. 

The next day we went to eat seafood. I mean real seafood! It was the first fish I had eaten since I came to America!!!! It was so good…..I miss my island country!

After that we went to the lower 9th ward where the damage was the worst. It was so….empty and flat. The lawns were untended, houses were being torn down, and only  a few people were walking around, mostly construction workers…. We talked to a man who was helping out the rebuiding process. His house was also flooded. I didn’t understand the technical stuff and what exactly happened at this place, but I could see that he felt betrayal by the government. He talked very calmly and considering what had happened, he still had hope to rebuild. That’s amazing…..

I’m paying ten cents a minute to be on the internet right now, so I’ll be brief. Here’s what I’ve been thinking about a lot lately:As the work has been wearing on, some days–especially the comparitively more boring days where I spend five hours wiping studs with Pine-Sol to remove the mold–I’ve been feeling down once in a while. This happens when I get overwhelmed by the enormity of the devestation in this city, the problems that existed even before Katrina hit, and how much remains to be done. Some days it’s hard for me to be convinced that my soggy rag is doing very much. And there are parts of the city, like the lower ninth ward, where houses have collapsed and people have died and there’s nothing an untrained laborer like me can do.

Those kinds of days are hard. And they’re made worse by my guilt: we vegetarians may bitch about being fed rice and peas for dinner, but the city is full of the homeless and starving and suffering. And so on and so on. Anything and everything can remind me of what bad shape this city is in.

So I’ve thought a lot about what’s keeping me going here. And as cheesy as this may sound, it’s really the people I’ve been working with and for that keep me motivated and inspired. It’s watching my fellow volunteers hold dance parties to the radio in their Tyvek suits. It’s applause. It’s sharing waterbottles and showers and toothpaste. It’s seeing so many other people wanting to make a difference.

It’s the people here: the woman at breakfast in the Salvation Army who makes sure you eat your pancakes so the hurricaines don’t blow you away. It’s the homeowner you work with all week who brings you all the animal crackers she has (and eats them with you.) It’s every single citizen who thanks you when you explain that you’re a volunteer here.

I think being here brings out the best cheeziness in me.

Yesterday we finished de-molding Papa Tony’s house! It felt so good to finish. His house looks so beautiful now…I mean, to the untrained eye it actually looks exactly the same as when we started probably. But there is no mold! None! We killed it all and now he can rebuild his house and live in it and be safe from all the bad moldy diseases (or whatever it is that happens when mold is in your house). It was so nice to be done and to feel like we actually changed his house and his life, even just a little bit.

Right now I’m actually in a cafe called UrbanCup where Evan (another blogger) is playing at the open mic. It’s really incredible to work and volunteer in New Orleans, but I think its also important to see the culture and the people of New Orleans in a different setting…a less helpless one, I guess. The culture here is so amazing, its so different from any other city I’ve ever been to. New Orleans feels almost European…small confusing streets and urban cafes and a ridiculous night life. I’m so impressed that after such a devastating event, the city held on to its culture and its individuality. There are people at this open mic singing and dancing and drinking, just like they’ve always done. I love that. I think this city can and will overcome Katrina, even if it takes years. They’ve already come so far. And if people keep helping out and volunteering and working and donating, it will get back on its feet even faster! So thats my service announcement for the evening…help New Orleans because its AMAZING HERE!!!

Lovey love love,

Eva

For the third day today we were at this old house - from the twenties the owner’s son told us - still gutting. We really have such an excellent group of happy, silly, motivated and hard-working people, which makes for super productivity and fun. Our amazingly cool team leader secured us a radio for the second day in a row so we’ve been having oldies dance parties periodically throughout the day, which really brightens things up. Although it’s hard to sing along wearing the respirator…believe me, I tried.
I knew that I’d be exhausted from the work and I am physically so tired and sore, but other than that I’m awake and having a great time. I really didn’t know just how much work is involved in gutting, particularly in a house this big. We had to knock down all the walls in the downstairs and then some of the ceilings because the mold climbed that high. Once the walls are down we have to take out the nails in the frame…plus clean-up of all the debris in between. Let me tell you, it’s easy to fill up those trash cans but much harder to carry them out because that concrete and dust is heavy. And then you have to find a place to put the debris - it’s a good thing this is a corner house because we have a wall of garbage almost 5 feet high in front of and along the whole side of the house…and we still have to gut some rooms in the upstairs, which means the pile is only going to get higher. When you’re just gutting downstairs, then it’s work, but when you’re upstairs having to go through the owners’ stuff, it hits you just how fast people had to leave, how long they’ve been displaced, and how much they have to lose. However, we found out that the owners are in Memphis and don’t know that their house came up to the top of the list so us preparing their house for remodeling is their Christmas present, which makes it all the more special.

I guess the motto of our trip, from repetitive use, has become “That could’ve been so much worse.” Which is true, but the fact is that things are going really well and I’m having fun and am really proud to be a part of this service project.

We’re at an internet cafe right now. Since we’re not living at Hands On, it’s hard for us to get connected to the internet and so it’s hard to commit to blogging. But I’ll give this a go, bullet-point style:

-I’m on Gut #1 team and it’s been such a great experience! Our crew really clicks and our team leaders are awesome, energetic, motivating, uplifting, wonderful, etc etc people.

-The house we’ve been gutting is ENORMOUS. The flood water got to be about a foot and a half high, which isn’t bad compared to a lot of places. But the roof leaked, so a lot of the upstairs was damaged as well. And you have to keep in mind that this house hasn’t been touched since Katrina hit–mold has completely overtaken it. We’ve ripped it down to the bare bones–studs and outside panels and wood flooring.

-The first thing that hit me hard about this: the house we’re working on looked beautiful from the outside. I spent a lot of time driving through devastated-looking neighborhoods and I never would have guessed that a house this good looking  was so damaged. Knowing that gave me much more perspective about how much of this city was affected and how much of it is rotting and molding and begging for help…over a year later.

-The second thing: I found myself forming an emotional bond with the people who lived in this house–most of whom I had never met. It was hard physically to rip walls down, but it was downright gut-wrenching emotionally to see some of the following things lying around the house:

coloring books, condoms, Clue Jr. picture novels, college applications, hardly recognizable bananas, family portraits, Hercules Happy Meal toys I remember having when I was a kid, a hand-carved walking stick, “Hello, my name is…” tags, lots and lots of plastic forks…

I could go on and on.

-The people in the city here are so genuine, nice, and appreciative. I love it.

-There was an older guy at the Hands On meeting (most Hands On volunteers are young people–college age or a bit older) who was talking about how selfish Katrina made him feel. So he sold everything he owned and moved down here to help. Wow.

-After a 7 hour workday, I sleep like a log at night.

I think that’s all I’ve got for now. Hunger is starting to take precedence over blogging, I’m sorry to say.

PS: Just to let you know, we’re all taking pictures but haven’t found an internet connection that will let us upload them yet. Many of us are planning to do a more thorough post when we get home.

I wrote an entry a few days ago but didn’t get to post it. Here it is. These are my experiences in New Orleans before the rest of the Knox Crew got here. I spent a few days wandering around the city, catching up on sleep, and building houses for Habitat for Humanity with my mom.

(more…)

Hello Everyone!

Today was so exciting!!! These past two days I was a part of a landscaping crew (there was about 8 of us).  We spent all day yesterday clearing out a front and backyard of one house that we finished today and then this afternoon we started clearing out a yard of a second house.  It’s amazing how the little things that you come accross makes the experience so exciting and definately an enthusiasm booster for each new day.

Okay so I am going to try to make this short as others want to blog as well and I did write a super long entry last time.  The one exciting thing that happened today was that in the yard of the second house we were working at we found parts of a rat skeleton and a cat skeleton.  It was so amazing…we were so excited about it that we wanted to find all of the bones and try to piece it back together (tomarrow we want to go back and try to find more of the bones).  A bit creepy in a way I guess…but it was so amazing to try to figure out how the bones fit together! In addition to that we came accross so many creepy crawlies (if that is a true word??).  We found snakes (little small ones), beetles, spiders, slugs, as well as tiny frogs and a mouse that ran by us.  Plus the day before while cleaning out the yard of the first house we found a bunch of random household items and for some reason we found it so fascinating to find random things under branches and inbetween leaves and tall grass, such as a shoe, mustard bottle, rench, medical scissors, a ken doll, two bowling balls, a toy stroller, two ovens, a ruler, rociking chair as well as many other small things.

Besides the little things the amazing thing is that with only eight of us we were able to clear out two yards (first house) and the start of the second house.  The first house was the most amazing!  We all had so much enthusiasm it was super awesome! We cleared out a shed that a tree had smashed down the center as well as that tree and all of the debris surrounding it with our bare hands!

Well I should end on this note but I seriously cannot wait to see what the next day will bring! The power of enthusiasm is within all of us and as Ralph Waldo Emerson stated “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

Have a great day!

~Eileen

Like pretty much all the other bloggers, I am on the de-molding team. We’re working on scraping out the mold in Tony’s house, vacuuming the whole place, and then wiping everything down with pinesol. Apparently the water line in his neighborhood was ten feet up, so we’re working up in the rafters and everything. We get all suited up in Tyvek and respirators…so we pretty much look like space aliens. As a team we’ve been working really hard and we’re moving along well, I think.

Tony is easily the best part of our job. He’s this big Italian-mobster type…the quintessential guys guy. Every day he brings us lunch…so far we’ve had pizza, McDonald’s, and homemade spaghetti. He’s got a big truck and he’s loud…its just perfect. Today when he delivered our fresh spaghetti lunch, he had a boat hitched to his truck. I guess he’d just gotten some work done on it…but he started telling us about how he boated around his neighborhood, saving people. He rescued a guy with no arms, and a man with his 95 year-old father, and mothers and children and babies. And he was very modest about it, making sure to tell us that he wasn’t the only one; that everyone was helping everyone…because that’s what you do. He told us we couldn’t even imagine what it was like that day and that week, and that the things he’s seen are things no one should ever see. To me, that made this all so real. Being here we can see the damage and we are working on houses that are obviously nearly destroyed…but since its been over a year since Katrina hit, its hard to really imagine the disaster itself. And this man, Tony, has saved people and rebuilt his life and he’s struggling so hard, because in less than 24 hours a storm wiped out his life and his town. I can’t even begin to imagine what that must be like.

On a more positive note, it feels really good to be here, with all these amazing people, and actually be doing something about it. All the team leaders at Hands On and all the leaders of our own Knox group are so passionate about helping the people in New Orleans that it is contagious. Their desire to rebuild the lives of these complete strangers is inspiring. They’re so knowledgeable about the situation and so genuinely concerned and so very willing to lend their time and skills. I’m really proud to be a part of this group.

And P.S. I still have amazing pictures and they’re getting more amazing every day…and they still refuse to load up. And I’m really sad about that, because I really want to share them. If I don’t get them to work while I’m down here, I will definitely put them all on this site when we get home. I promise.

so my first blog didn’t post…. just one of the downfalls of online thought-spilling… so ill write the first, type a line of stars, type a new title, and type an additional post…. “but sarah, why not just post two seperate blogs?”

i’m not sure how… so to the first which i will begin by introducing myself…. i’m sarah, a first year at knox college but the man at the door probably told you that and a lot more besides.

you ought to know why i am here in the big flooded easy-

1. because i have always admired ’salt of the earth’ types (whom i have proven i’m not one of simply by referring to them as such).

2. i will do anything to gain the approval of the aforementioned… particularly via tangible affection (baked (cookies, cakes, alaska) works particularly well in my circle of friends).

3. it’s better than sitting around a warm crackling television set all december…

AND

4. i’m a big fan of that darling cliche warm fuzzy (WF’s for our purposes).

 

### the daily

Papa Tony is Foghorn Leghorn… by way of The Sopranos.  He’s this wonderful… MAN… the real definition of ‘the great provider,’ having rebuilt the homes of his mother and son (a cop after his father)… now we’re demolding his place: essentially scraping mold of all these waterlogged boards in a skeletal house…. mostly busy work… until Papa Tony started throwing… dropping… recklessly chucking junk down from the attic… things like cardboard thanksgiving turkeys on sticks, open bottles of indeterminate chemicals, and huge lighted reindeer… and a plaid jacket which he generously offered to us…. he don’t wear them plaid jackets….

he told us today how he rescued people with his boat… a man with no arms, a man paralyzed from the waist down… and he made us spaghetti…

yeah…

people here are ridiculously nice…. deliriously… like not only are the volunteers giving, artsy, and guiltily friendly (one girl felt bad that she hadnt helped someone who fell… 20 minutes prior to telling the story), but the lovals who say hey babe casually to new faces.  People appreciate us… a lot… which, to me, is bizarre.  Perhaps it’s just because im really bad at accepting charity… i feel like Papa Tony is the same way.. strong ‘I don’t need nobody’ kinda attitude… almost guilt… Maybe that’s why he buys us lunch and why i bake for people… i can’t accept that other people are willing to be around me (help me) so i pay them back… is it pride of a lack of love for myself…. maybe that’s why im single… you’ll never love another till you love yourself…

also, creepy people are a lot less creepy here… like they look creepy (i saw a man in a wendy’s with no legs (lack of limbs is trendy here…) and i immediately thought he was a creep… and he wasn’t).  No one wants to hurt me or mug me… i dont understand how people can be so good after they’ve lost everything… the opposite of what i was expecting…

and then there were nine…

“when you die they make a list of every love you never kissed, of each regret, and each mistake, every choice you failed to make… oh well… oh well… oh well…” -Steve Page and Ed Robertson

On day five of our New Orleans excursion (day three of our de-molding project) we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of winning the war against the spores.  A noble cause it is.  I’m sure some other bloggers have covered this, but I feel that one more time going over the de-molding process can only serve to enlighten, right?  We begin by “gutting” a house– taking out all of the sheetrock, light fixtures, wires, floorboards, nails– and then move on to “molding”, which involves going over every stud (2×4) in the house with a wire brush, vaccuming up the resultant mold-dust, and then wiping down the boards with a pinesol solution.  As of today, the de-molders (aka Team Awesome) are about halfway done with the Pinesolification of the house.

Yesterday I was working in the attic with the owner of the house we are working on, an older gentleman named Tony, going through items that had to be thrown away due to water damage.  We must have thrown out at least a thousand dollars worth of power tools, fishing rods, Holiday decorations, extension cords, lawn furniture– anything that would be in an attic.  While these aren’t exactly necessities, and indeed it would be pretty easy to get by without them, it was humbling to see this man forced to totally disassociate himself from his objects.  Tony makes his own furniture, and really valued his power tools.  He’s a fisherman, too.  He’s had to radically change his life after the hurricanes; he’s been forced to find satisfaction in new mediums; in relationships, in community building.  He says Katrina was a transformative experience for him.  So there’s an upside.

I really am having a wonderful time and today was our first day of work…AMAZING!!! My pictures are gorgeous but we’re having computer/internet issues soooo they won’t be up for a while.

I was working on the de-molding project, which was really fun. The house had already been gutted by the family who owns it, so all we had to do was scrape…which turned out to be really time consuming and way harder than I thought. It was so much fun though, and it felt really good to finally be helping the community, even in very small ways. So the pictures will be up soon, Tyvek suits and all. Again, I’m so sorry they aren’t up yet! It will be worth the wait…

Eva

Hello all,

I’ve been looking forward to this trip since the middle of fall term and we’re finally here. Yay! The drive was quite long but my fellow van-mates were fun and we got along well.  It’s very interesting being down in New Orleans since I’ve never been here before.  You can tell the city, even more than a year after the hurricane, is still not up and running as you might think it would be. Along with many others, the sign in front of the Walgreens next door to the Salvation Army where we’re staying says “Welcome Back.” I saw graffiti that read, “Come Hell or high water”…. I still haven’t seen more than Central City and the French Quarter by night, though, so I will have to wait a bit more to comment on the city.

As you know, we’re working with the international relief organization, Hands On, however we’re staying at a Salvation Army. The facility is extremely large and nice. Our dorms are clean with rows of bunk beds (we likened it to either camp or an orphanage – Madeline maybe?) and we get two good hot meals a day and a sack lunch provided for us.  The security guard threatens us to smile or else go smile out in the cold every time she sees us. We’ve gone to a community meeting at Hands On and it is, indeed, quite a community. I’m so impressed with how many people are here and so excited to be helping, plus they are all so moved as much by the little moments of a nickel from a five year old who got to check out a book for the first time from the newly opened library as by the overwhelmingly positive New Orleans community response to their efforts.

Yesterday was more of an orientation so it was great to actually get out “in the field” and become a part of the aforementioned community. A group of 15 of us went out to a house in the central part of the city with two team leaders from AmeriCorp who are currently working through Hands On. It was a big old house that, from the outside, appeared fine. But when we went inside, we found since it had been closed after there had been a foot and a half of water the mold had had taken over. The neighbors said, “Oh thank God you’re here,” as much for the family and the neighborhood as for the fact that many rats and feral animals had been coming out of the class for the past year. A crew had already gone through the whole house to decide what was salvageable, but even so we had to move out all the furniture on the first floor and take up the carpet before we could start taking down the walls. It really made you think about how much stuff we all keep around in our houses that isn’t really important. Both the adult children of the owners of the house came over to meet and thank us, which was really special, especially because they told us about how they had grown up in that house, played hide and seek in it, etc. The owners are actually currently living in a trailer in the backyard, which is what a large amount of the displaced families are doing. In addition to the fact that we were helping these people, it was very satisfying to use a crowbar to completely dismantle the walls down to the frame. We’ll be working on this house for at least the next couple of days because there’s still more walls and ceiling to take down and then de-mold. Let me just say that I was so appreciative of food today.

Hello!

My name is Saori Moriizumi and I am a first year. I am a international student from Japan. So, sorry if my grammer and spelling is bad!! I can’t help it! Please ignore any mistakes.

We all stayed at Knox on the 2nd and left the next morning at 4:00. We arrived at new Orleans around 10:00pm and stayed at a church for that night. It is not snowing but still it is pretty cold.

Today we moved to the place where we are going to sleep for the rest of the trip. We get to sleep in bunks with 30 people in one room and share two showers! YEAH! The facilities are really nice! I was ready to sleep on the ground with bugs and only take a shower once a week. But I was able to take my first shower today and there is even a laundry room! I love it here! The people here are really nice! Even the half-see-through curtains on the toilets! I love it! I got to talk someone in the shower too! I have never done that before…!! It’s like those American high school movies! But I don’t know who I was talking to…I wonder who that was….
I got really nervous a couple of days before the trip. I was so nervous all of the sudden and kept imagining all the bad things that might happen (like mold growing on my eye lashes) but now I’m here, I can’t wait to start working tomorrow! I have never volunteered for such a long period of time. I’m so excited!

Hello Everyone! We are finally here after a long day of continuous driving! We arrived in New Orleans late last night and today was our first full day! I’m not sure how much of what I will be saying will be repeated by the other blogers because we are typing at the same time so I apologize if I repeat a lot of what others have said or will say ahead of time. First off, to give you a bit of background about myself: my name is Eileen O’Brien. I am a First-year student and my academic interests include Biology and Neuroscience. I am glad to have been given the opportunity to blog my responses to everything that is happening here. Sharing my thoughts with all of you really helps me take everything in and come to appreciate it even more. Last year, I helped with a clothing drive that my high school organized for the victims of New Orleans. When I heard about this trip I was immediately excited (and I do admit a bit worried as well) to actually have the opportunity to help make a difference by physically comeing to New Orleans. I’m excited about a new experience and a new adventure. I’m excited to get my hands dirty, to do something that I have never done before!! And now here we are!

Yesterday, on Sunday December 3rd, we left Knox around 5:00 in the morning and finally made it to New ORleans around 10 pm. At times it was difficult keeping all of the vans together and we made several stops along the way, but in the end we all made it safely to the Hands On headquarters. We stayed there for the night and this morning we moved over to the Salvation Army. At the Salvation Army we live in a large room that has two rowas of bunk beds and a common bathroom. From what I understand, we have better living conditions then those who came down during spring break last year, which I didn’t necessarily expect, but it works. The Salvation Army is amazing the people are extremely kind for giving us the space to live and food everyday. Every morning we meet with our Hands On leaders for the projects that we signed up for (tomarrow I will be removing mold from a home) and we will go to Hands On for their community meetings. I sispect it will be a bit difficult not living with the Hands On commuinity at first, but we have confidence that it will work out perfectly after a day or so.

Tomorrow will be our first day of work. Today we basically became oriented with our new living environment and had some free time to explore the city. I went with a group to look at the lower 9th ward (one of the most badly hit areas of the city) and we walked around parts of the French Quarter. The Salvation Army is located in an area that is near the center of the city, which was not that badly damaged. Driving around the lower 9th ward and seeing the damaged homes that went on for blocks was pretty intense. Before comming I wasn’t sure what to expect, but then when I saw so much destruction in one place I was amazed. It’s difficult in a way to see so much damage, especially when you know that so many people have lost what they knew and loved. I don’t even think its possible to understand what that would feel like. There were a few things about the lower ninth ward that stood out for me: Each house is marked with a circle around the letters TFW, toxic flood water, with the date above and bellow is the number of bodies found in the house (greatfully I have only seen 0) and the company that searched it. (there wasn’t a standard marking Xs with the info can be seen too). We drove near one of the canals and the houses there were hardly standing. On most of the houses you can see a visible line that marks where the water rose to (mostly a bit shorter than an average man). The architecture style is definately unique; they are mostly one story with several that are two. Lastly (as I could probably go on forever…), one thing that caught my eye is that on one of the houses (and several others) was written “2 dogs + cats,” meaning they were found in the house, which is really sad.

I think about the overall experience at the time of the flood and I wonder what it must have been like. what would go through your mind if you were told to evacuate your home? what if you were not able to have access to proper transportation? How would you decide what you would bring with you? If even you had time to think about it? I don’t think it is possible to fully imagine the stress, the fright and confusion that was most likely experienced!

Sorry about my extremely long entry, I hope I’m not boring you! But, when I found this I wanted to share it. I was reading about Aaron Neville, the lead singer from the Neville brothers. He is a famous New Orleans musician, a singer of soul music. In reflection, he says “while I was singing, I couldn’t help but think how this storm changed everything. I was thinking about those people in the water. Thinking of friends I might never see again. Thinking of how I had lost my home; how three of my children, my brother cryil and sister Athelgra had all lost their homes. So much loss was on my mind. But loss has its gains, put the pain in the music and watch the pain flow out. Pain turns to gratitude for what you have, not what you lost.” This is an amazing message because not only does it speak for the awesome spirit of New Orleans but it also emphasizes the power of why we are all here, in helping to make a difference!

Thanks for listening and I will be back to blog soon!

~Eileen

Today started bright and early (7 am after a 17 hour drive!) at the Hands On New Orleans (HONO) Headquarters. It’s a great place– a makeshift bunkhouse in a church’s spare room housing up to 100 volunteers at a time, mostly college students. Crews are organized and highly motivated, but part of me thinks that the progress they’ve made so far is due to their spirit. These people want to see change. They’ve put every part of themselves into HONO, and have become as tightly knit as a family in their efforts. I think everyone in the Knox crew has been inspired by the example these volunteers set.

We begin our projects tomorrow, with two groups working “gut”, removing drywall and molded-out studs from houses, and one group on “mold”– stripping mold from otherwise intact rooms in houses. We’re staying at the Salvation Army a few blocks away from HQ, and we’ll meet our team leaders there tomorrow to get to our worksites. I’ve done Habitat work before, but there is an urgency to this project that is palpable. New Orleans is an amazing place. The sense of history is overwhelming, from the French Quarter, which I had a chance to explore today, to the old ports, to the French-style houses of Central City. It is also a community of juxtapositions, from the racial divides only made more evident by Katrina and Rita to the simple sense of a city in caught in flux; trying to reconcile the antiquated, from which it draws much of its cultural heritage, with the modern. I feel humbled to be a part of restoring a city like this– a living, relevant, and endlessly interesting city– to its former glory.

In other news, the girls definitely get curtains for their showers, while we guys get to know each other.

More after the first day of work!

Hey Everybody!!!

My name is Eva Westley and I’m a first year at Knox. I was so excited for the opportunity to come and volunteer in New Orleans, partially because I love volunteering and I needed something to do over winter break. I also wanted to come because I was in New Orleans the spring before Hurricane Katrina hit, and the city seemed to have a really unique culture. The lack of relief work being done in New Orleans has been really shocking to me, especially since this city is so gorgeous. I’m really glad I’m here so I can help out (at least a little bit). So that’s my deal.

In my blog I’ll be posting a lot of pictures and probably fewer words than most people. Its not because I don’t have anything to say, but I do think that photos can be really powerful, especially when we compare what’s happening here to what’s happening in our lives back home. So you can expect some explanations, and maybe a little bit of commentary…but mostly pictures from my blog.

Of course, with that said I would just like to add one little thing. We’ve only been here for 24 hours and I am already so impressed with Hands On as a volunteer organization. The base is very comfortable (though we are not staying there) and the staff are really helpful and knowledgeable. I think its really amazing to see the way people pull together to help out in emergency situations. Everyone is so upbeat and supportive and cheerful despite the tough situations they’re facing daily. It’s a beautiful thing! Woohoo for volunteer people!
So here are my pictures so far…we haven’t done any work yet, so there isn’t much. Enjoy

Eva

P.S. Ummm actually I can’t exactly post my pictures tonight but they do exist and they will be here soon, I promise! Sorry!�

Hey! This is Emily Jensen, a junior student at Knox and the coordinator of the December Break ‘06 New Orleans Relief Trip. I just wanted to take this opportunity on the behalf of both Collette King (co-coordinator) and myself to thank all of those who are helping us to return to The Big Easy for the second time around.

Collette - Truly an amazing person and my partner in crime coordinating this relief trip
Dean of Students and Vice President of Student Advancement, Xavier Romano - For all you have done, for all the coffee, for your guidance, and for your friendship
Vicki Sibley and Lisa Welch – Giving me a home in the Office of Student Development and expecting to see me more then once or twice a day, everyday for the ten-week Fall Term
Megan Gamble – Being an inspiration, a leader, and my role model
Molly Manino – For all your help and advice regarding fundraising
Anne Taylor - For all the legal advice
Kathy Ridlon and her student workers, Phillipe and Donielle - Thank you for all the database work and sorting through all the papers I sent over to the volunteer center
Kathleen Beeson - For her simply fabulous NOLA t-shirt designs
Food Service Staff
Students going on your trip - Thank you so much for coming on this trip!
Parents of Trip Attendees - Thank you so much for allowing your son/daughter to have this amazing, life changing experience
All the Donors - Thank you for all your support, without you this trip would not happen
Last, but certainly not least by any measure:
Craig and Debbie Southern, Cindy Wickliff, Jennifer Gallas, Janet Albert, Bonnie Lee, Cheri Siebken, Roger Taylor, Larry Breitborde, Sarah Burger, Liz Markie, Whitney Bey, the entire Payne family, Evan Holmes, Daniel Hoffman, Emily Putnum, Jaimie Eubanks, Danielle Jones, Graham Troyer Joy, Karen Kinderman and to all those who go unnamed

Hey everyone! My name’s Emily Jensen and I’m a junior at Knox College. Since September, I have been organizing the December Break ‘06 Trip with my good friend, Collette King. We have both been to New Orleans before and we are both so passionate and excited to return to The Big Easy.

In September while first organizing the general interest meetings, I was sure I’d be returning to New Orleans by myself in December. Now, I can hardly believe 47 other people would want to accompany me to New Orleans. I am awed by everyone who’s taking two weeks of their time to gut houses. I am so grateful to all those coming on the trip, we truly have amazing people at Knox - and I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH.

So many thoughts are swirling in my head right now from my past term’s experience in organizing this trip, to my past two trips to do relief work in New Orleans. I cannot quite express what I am feeling. All I have to say is: Get ready to work, to get incredibly dirty, to learn, to be emotionally exhausted, to have fun, to challenge yourself, to meet new friends - GET EXCITED!!!!!

HERE WE COME