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