New Orleans Mission Trip Blog

I could talk about New Orleans in many different ways.  There are many different ways to view the current situation down there.  It has been a little over a week since our mission team has returned.  I am haunted by the thought that the stories of New Orleans are not being told.  I am confounded by the fact that FEMA wants to close down the volunteer camps.  The recovery effort is far from over.  I would argue the emergency is far from over.  I firmly believe that the long term viability of New Orleans will be decided in the next few months.  If governments on all levels are not willing to step up to the plate, I fear that hundreds of thousands of lives will forever be scarred

I know that I am sounding melodramatic and I also realize my thoughts betray my libertarian way of thought.  The reason that I firmly believe that governments have to step up to the plate is that they have basically betrayed the people of New Orleans.   My understanding of the situation is that governments and large corporations have reclaimed large amounts of swamp, marsh, and flood plains and promised the citizens that they could safely build homes on the land.  Now that the system devised by the government has failed, people are questioning openly whether the government will be willing to spend the billions of dollars to fix the entire systems of protection.

Our federal government is willing to spend billions of dollars to maintain a military that is killing people all over the world, but the federal government is not willing to spend a lot less to protect the “American dream” for hundreds of thousands of our poorest citizens.

It is easy to openly question whether we should protect places like East New Orleans when all we hear are statistics.  What is hard to appreciate is the stories behind those statistics.  I keep thinking about the Shine family.   I keep seeing the Shine family gathered around a desk celebrating what looks like a mortgage signing.  Having the home we worked on was so important, the family celebrated the signing. 

If East New Orleans is not given adequate protection, there is no way insurance companies are going to help rebuild the lives and homes of the people who lived there without protection.  The recovery effort is far from over.  We ran into a woman who had no form of communication, had trouble reading, and was living in a mold infested room that she had attempted to clear out.  The emergency is not over.  FEMA’s job is not done yet. 

It is easy to become gloomy looking at New Orleans.  As I have said before, you do not need a tour to see the destruction.  Driving on any highway or major road will give you plenty to see.  If you visit East New Orleans, St. Bernard’s Parish, or the Ninth Ward, the destruction is incredible.

Yet, you cannot help but see signs of life throughout the city.  We saw many teams of volunteers working throughout the city.  We met so many inspirational and generous people that I know if the city is given a chance, it can recover.  The key though is that we as a nation have to decide what matters most to us.  Are we going to listen to the stories of New Orleans and help?  Or are we going to let our government just walk away from one more promise?   

Many blessings,

Andrew

Our group of nine volunteers who went to New Orleans for a week of gutting homes ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in August of last year, have just arrived home in Boston.  We’re back.  But in New Orleans, that phrase is a message of hope spread across the Crescent City on billboards, store signs, and spray-painted on homes and businesses.  Other popular phrases include “We’re still here”, “We’re coming back”, and “We won’t sell at any price.”  The spirit of New Orleans post Katrina, as they call it, is unlike any I’ve ever experienced.  Our Tyvek protective suits identified us as volunteers and every city worker, neighbor, and passing car stopped to thank us and bless us.  College Avenue UMC in Somerville, MA organized the trip through the United Methodist Committee on Relief.  We stayed at Rayne UMC in the Garden District of New Orleans.  Their generosity and compassion made us feel welcome and comfortable throughout the week.  Many people came by to talk with us and share their stories of evacuation, loss, plans to rebuild, and some, their plans to leave.  The church itself sustained moderate damage when Katrina blew the steeple off the roof and into the sanctuary.  But Pastor Callie opened the doors of the church as soon as the city reopened in October and has since hosted dozens of volunteer groups. 

Rebuilding has begun at the church, but unfortunately repairs are slow moving, as they are throughout the city.  Hundreds of businesses remain closed, many traffic lights are still non-functional, many areas are still without electric, water, and gas.  Thousands of trailers provided by FEMA fill the yards of ruined homes, but many remain undelivered or unconnected to power, water, and sewage. 

The purpose of our volunteer work was to ready homes for rebuilding by stripping the interiors down to stud walls, joists, and sub floors.  All of the homes’ personal belongings, appliances, carpets, drywall, and insulation are contaminated with mold after sitting in flood waters for many weeks last fall, and in many cases are untouched by evacuees to this day.  Our group of nine began on a three-bedroom ranch, slab foundation home in New Orleans East on Monday morning.  Throughout the course of the week we completed that home as well as finishing two others that were 60 to 70% completed and started work on a fourth.  We spent many evenings driving the cluttered streets of ruined neighborhoods, visiting other volunteer camps, and of course celebrating our week’s work in the French Quarter on Friday night.  It is impossible to describe in this letter our six days of exertion and exhaustion, joy and grief, hope and despair, compassion and gratitude.  We were just a small group trying to make a small impact.  But the impact was huge – on the communities we worked in, the people we connected with, and lastly, the tremendous impact on ourselves.  We ended our trip with a small service Saturday morning centered around Jeremiah 29, and I include parts of it here: “Build houses and settle down; Plant gardens and eat what they produce…  Also seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.  Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper…” [Then] “I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me and I will listen to you.  You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you … and will bring you back from captivity.  I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you, and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

I have so many thoughts and ideas for reflection that I am not sure how many I will get to.  You could say that I have a “gumbo” (a bad pun I know but that is what Rayne UMC kindly made for us last night for dinner) amount and only a small time. 

Our daily routine

Just in case you were curious I thought I would share what a typical day is like for us.  There is no set wake up time.  Everyone needs to get themselves up and do what needs to be done before we leave for the day.  Everyday two of us are assigned to make lunches for everyone.  The night before or that morning each person writes down on a piece of paper what that would like for the day.  Then two team members work quickly to make lunch.  Close to the decided leaving time, we load the two mini-vans we are renting with equipment, wheelbarrows, hammers, and other implements of destruction.  We then head  off to the site or the Recovery center.

Once on site we dress in tyvex (sp?) suits, particle masks, rubber boots, and latex gloves.  The team then grabs our implements of destruction and goes to work.  We do not really coordinate who is going to do what.  Each of us looks for a job that we think we can do and then proceed to tackle the task.  I am extremely impressed with how well my teammates work and how efficiently.  When I look at how much work they do, I am utterly amazed.

Our work so far has consisted of tearing sheetrock out, ripping out insulation, removing non-gas appliances, tearing ceilings down, removing nails from the studs (I had no idea what a stud was before I came, but they are the boards in the walls that support the house).  In essence we want to leave the house with a roof, a cement floor, possibly some tiling, and the studs.

Once we decide it is quitting time, we remove our suits, our gloves, put away our equipment, and head back to Rayne Memorial Church.  This is sort of a basic outline of what we do.  Each day is different and I also forgot to mention that we have lunch.  We have lunch.  Usually around 12:00, unless a team member confuses LA time for MA time.

Falling Stars

When we got our first assignment I was a bit disappointed.  From the very get go, we were told that we would not be able to meet the home owner.  I think all of us had really wanted to meet the family or person.  We were told not to judge the family or person whose home we were going to work on.  Yet, when we got to the site, it was hard not to.  Gary had told us about the seventy year old lady whom he had helped on the first trip.  So I sort of thought that we would have a similar situation, a poor old lady in an old home in dire need of help.  When we got to the site, it was in a middle class neighbor hood.  The home was fairly large.  I saw a Direct TV dish on the roof.  Some of the team members expressed concern that we might be working on a middle class home who may not actually need the help.  The home security system and the bars on the window did not help.  We had to remind ourselves not to judge, but it was hard not to.

As I mentioned in my first blog it was hard to see the house as a home.  As we worked on the house over the course of two and a half days though, it became more and more of a home.  We asked the family to tell their story to us over the phone.  Hearing the story of the Shine family (see Tiffany’s blog entry entitled “The Stories of Katrina”) I felt embarrassed about how judgmental I had been earlier.  While the house was fairly cleaned out, we did find personal items from time to time.  With each item I could see how the house is a home. 

What really struck me was how in one of the boy’s bedrooms, there were little glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.  Just like the little glow in the dark stars on the ceiling of two of my brother’s bedrooms back at my home in Danville.  Stars that I imagine little children put up on the ceilings all over the country. 

When my teammates tore down the ceiling, I thought about my own home and also about Mark 13.  Mark 13 is a passage about the Son of Man coming again.  I have wondered from time to time if New Orleans is in its last days.  Can a city recover from such devastation?  A person does not need a tour of the city to see the damage.  Seven months after Katrina hit, the city has many areas extremely damaged and some areas untouched.  These areas can be seen from almost any major roadway in, into or out of the city.      

“We’re Back”

We have been given a tour of the city, both officially and unofficially.  When we have traversed from one point to another, we have seen many of the sites of New Orleans in passing.  One common phrase that we see is “We’re Back,” a mantra that rings throughout the city.

A church member of Rayne Memorial UMC, kindly gave us a tour on Wednesday morning.  We looked at the Ninth ward, St. Bernard Parish, two relief camps, FEMA trailer courts, where a barge broke a levee in the industrial canal, the 17^th st Canal area where another levee broke, and so much more.

The devastation is unbelievable.  We saw houses shaken, falling apart, and almost every kind of damage believable.  Looking at all the “for sale” signs and the massive damage, one could easily get depressed and wonder if this is it for New Orleans.

Yet, among the rubble, we saw other things.  One home had “Do not bulldoze, we are coming back!” spray painted across the door.  We saw countless teams of volunteers from all over the country cleaning out homes.  When we visited a food distribution center/soup kitchen, it was amazing to see all the volunteers.

Listening to the stories, seeing the work teams, and looking at the signs of hope, I am amazed at how kind humans can be and how resilient the people of New Orleans are.  Everyone thanks us for our work and everyone wants us to tell their story.  I do hope that our team is able to do that.  The people of New Orleans have stories worth hearing and have a lot of work ahead of them.

Many blessings,