I am alive, in case anyone was wondering. I finally have Internet access and the time to write. We finished our project in Mobile in mid April. It turned out to be a really wonderful first project. I think we were pretty spoiled. As the weeks went on we learned how to do pretty much all of the outside work on a house. Besides basic framing we learned how to roof and side houses. By the end of the 6 weeks I felt really comfortable and confident in my ability enough to lead small groups of volunteers. I decided that I like roofing the best. There aren't a lot of people who like working up that high. It was usually less crowded on the roof. There was sort of a tranquil and artistic side to being up there. During one of our first few weeks we set up for a habtitat home dedication. We got to see nine families get the keys to their homes. This was really one of the greatest parts of the whole experience. Just seeing the excitement on these families faces and hear the appreciation in their speech solidified our purpose for being in the South. In time even our little "cardboard" houses proved their worth. When it rained they leaked a bit but otherwise they offered a lot of privacy which was definitely a blessing. All in All mobile was a really great city. I was sad to leave. We worked with some amazing people and I got to hear some great bands play.
We left Alabama and headed to Trinity, Texas. Trinity is in the middle of no where and seems like it's right out of a horror movie. In Texas we met up with all the corps members from the Denver campus at a YMCA camp. It was supposed to be a time to relax and regroup in between projects. We had to debrief about our project in Mobile and then brief about our new project. The week started out really fun. I got to spend time with all of my friends from Denver. Sunday the had tons of activities for us: a high ropes course, a climbing wall, a giant swing, a water slide. Monday my friend Trisha got a phone call informing her that her Uncle had been killed in freak accident at a shooting range. Trisha was beside herself and we all felt for her which put a haze on the rest of the week. We spent about five days in Texas before we heading further South to Louisana. On our was to Louisana we stopped in Biloxi and participated in an all corps discussion forum. This forum combined corps members from all of the campuses currently in session as well as various political advisors and other leaders involved in relief work. Basically this gave us on opportunity to discuss the future of Americorps NCCC amongst ourselves and with people outside of our orginization. Everyone had postive things to say about our work and the future of our progam.
On friday night we drove to Camp Hope where my team and I will spend live and work for the next week. Camp Hope is located in St. Bernard Parish just outside of New Orleans city limits. Camp Hope is a former elementary school that has been converted into a shelter for voulunteers and relief workers in St. Bernard Parish. Currently I am living in a room with 16 other girls and sharing housing with about 500. Our job is to cook breakfast for everyone living at Camp. Our shift starts at 4am and is supposed to end at Noon. So far we have gotten done early every day. We are all still getting used to the hours and it's made us quite crabby. The work however is good. Each morning we serve any combination of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, oatmeal, muffins, bagels, and cold cereal. Our supervisor had been working a split shift getting up in the morning and making dinner in the evening. So he showed us the ropes the first couple of days but by Wednesday he pretty much let us run things by ourselves. This isn't my ideal project and by no means is living at camp home glamourous but it could be worse I suppose.
St. Bernard Parish where we are working was declared 100 percent unliveable after the hurricane. It was such a depressing sight when we first drove through. The homes here weren't destroyed by the storm, they were flooded by the levees breaking. The water rose so high it completly covered most of the houses which remained flooded for nearly two weeks time. The people here lost all of their belongings and now have only an empty shell of a home that is infested with mold. St. Bernard Parish was home to honest hardworking people who have yet to get back on their feet. We have met several community members all of them willing to tell us their stories of survivial. It is so humbling to hear the high spirts and the passion that these people have for their home. I didn't realize and I don't think most people realize that so much later their are still people with no place to live with only a skelton of house. People who need help. It really makes me question our government. Why are we spending so much time and money in the middle east when their are so many in our own country that desperately need assitance?
We have been here for just over a week and I'm really finding a new appreciaton for New Orleans. We have been downtown about three times and we are discovering that it has some really great culture and class. This weekend and next is the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival. There are some really great artists performing during these two weekends: Van Morrison, The Allman Brothers, Norah Jones, John Legend... the list goes on and on. There are eleven different stages with 5-6 band performing on each stage per day. We are volunteering at the festival so we get in for free. Right now I'm living it up in the air conditoning in the fair productions trailer answering phones and playing on the Internet but I'm on my way out to hit up Ludacris.
