March 16, 2007
Greetings again from the University of Richmond. I have just returned from my Spring Break and it was quite a week. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a break since I am still fairly exhausted from it, but I was away from campus and classes for a week, which was somewhat needed. I chose to go to New Orleans with CDRT (Collegiate Disaster Relief Team). This was their third year going and the whole purpose is to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Along the way, though, I became a movie star (you’ll have to keep reading to find out more about that). One hundred people applied to go, but because of cost restrictions, only thirty of us were able to go. I was one of four freshmen and was excited to see what Spring Break had in store for me. It had been funded through grants and the University in the past, but funding changed this year and each person had to pay $220 to cover everything, which is still good for a Spring Break. Because there is so much to explain, I will let my photos of the week do some of the talking.
We began our trip at 6:00 AM on Saturday. I didn’t bother going to sleep Friday night and tried to sleep on the bus. Fortunately, we had a coach bus, so we had movies to entertain us for our twenty hour trip. We finally got into New Orleans in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
Our long twenty hour bus ride in our coach bus
The beautiful view of New Orleans in the early morning
The place where we stayed was operated by Americorps and Habitat for Humanity. It is called Camp Hope and is said to be the largest volunteer camp in the United States. It houses around 1,000 guests. It’s located in St. Bernard parish of New Orleans. This parish lost 135 residents in the hurricane, but is still suffering through a lot of the effects, whether it be depression, insurance problems, rebuilding, or jobs. Camp Hope used to be a middle school, but Hurricane Katrina flooded it with seven feet of water and it never reopened. So, bunk beds were brought in and it serves as the base for volunteer work.It was a little eerie since it felt like a ghost town. The lab sinks were still in the science rooms surrounded by bunks. Lockers were still there, but there was no signs of school life. Because it was Spring Break, it was packed with volunteers from schools in New Hampshire, Washington D.C., North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, Washington, and California, as well as other volunteers.
We stayed at Camp Hope during our trip
Camp Hope used to be a middle school
Because hardly anyone knew each other, we spent Sunday learning more about each other. We started with learning names and playing icebreaker games. I became known as Brownie Ben from this point on.
One of our many icebreakers
After getting to know each other, we decided to go to the French Quarter and also get a little tour of the city. A lot of the city was badly hurt by the storm and seven-eighths of it was underwater after the hurricane. There were spray-painted marks on every house saying the date of inspection and the number of bodies found inside. A lot of the homes have simply been abandoned. However, a lot of shiny businesses are back as well as wealthy homes in an effort to bring wealth back to the area, but all of these are surrounded by destroyed and poor houses. It’s rather sad to see the contrast.
Many houses in our area were badly damages by Hurricane Katrina
However, the French Quarter was not badly hit since it is higher in elevation. Bourbon Street was the main attraction as we became tourists for a while, but I really enjoyed the entire area and hardly stayed on Bourbon Street except for souvenir shops. I really liked the architecture and houses in the area. There were also lots of really cool shops and cafes in the area. The entire group started together but slowly broke apart without me noticing until there were only the four freshman left together. They turned out to be some of my best friends from the trip. My favorite place in the French Quarter was a beautiful cathedral by the waterfront. I thought it looked awesome. After an afternoon of exploring the French Quarter, we returned to Camp Hope.
Bourbon Street
I thought this building looked awesome
Me having fun looking at souvenirs
This amazing cathedral in the French Quarter
Because this is a service-learning trip, we read a whole packet of articles dealing with Hurricane Katrina and its aftereffects. We also have to write a five page paper dealing with our reactions to the trip and what we learned. To discuss some of these things, we broke into small groups throughout the week to talk about what we had seen and done.
My small group at our first work site
Monday began the work week for us. I thought that the damage looked moderate when I had seen the outside of buildings, but I was unprepared for what was inside. Three of the days were spent at a nursing home that had not been touched since Hurricane Katrina three years ago. There were wires hanging from the ceilings, copper thieves had stolen the copper, bedrooms were in disarray, and everything was a mess. The nursing home had sat in six feet of water for a while after the storm. We worked so hard on the nursing home by cleaning out all belongings, gutting it out, tearing down sheet-rock and insulation, and so much more. We had about fifty people working for three days and still achieved only a fraction of what needs to be done. It’s expected to take over a month to complete the basic work. It’s frustrating that so many people spent so much time and energy just to make a tiny dent in the overall work that needs to be done in the city. My main jobs were grunt work. I cleared out all furniture from the rooms and also coordinated the disposal of debris into the dumpster. It was hard work, but we got down and dirty and did what needed to be done. It was estimated that we cleared over 30 tons of debris from the nursing home. Sadly, most of the debris was family pictures, clothes, and personal possessions. It reminded me a lot of Pompeii. It was like the people had suddenly vanished. There were half eaten cookies, open soda cans, and all possessions needed were left behind. It was like we were stumbling upon the daily life of a nursing home, but there were simply no residents there. Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow came out and was thrown out. We were proud of the work we did, but there’s so much left. It was very dirty, sad, and difficult work, but I think everyone realized why we were there. I got bruises, cuts, and sunburn, as well as a nail in my shoe, but am still in one piece.
BEFORE
AFTER
The water mark left by the flooding
There were calendars everywhere from before the Hurricane hit
Everything was left behind by the residents
The rooms were in disarray, but everything had to go
A lot of people had fun breaking things down with sledgehammers
Gutting out the nursing home completely
This is the dumpster I was in charge of
Through everything, we found one intriguing story. We stumbled upon a palette of paint, some paintings, and newspaper clippings in one of the rooms. One of the residents had been a very good painter and had been granted asylum in the United States from Cuba by President Lyndon Johnson. In return, he painted a portrait of President Johnson and sent it to him. There are letters from the President as well as newspaper articles about it that we found. We’re trying to find out what happened to the nursing home resident, but we haven’t found anything yet.
The letters from President Johnson and newspaper clippings
Our group went back to the French Quarter on Tuesday night to relax a little. I broke off with a group who went to visit Cafe Dumond, a restaurant famous for its beignets. We had to wait a long time for a waiter, but that allowed us to talk to each other and become closer friends. When the beignets arrived, I thought that they tasted a lot like funnel cake. We only had time enough to eat before heading back to Camp Hope, but it was a really fun experience.
The group I went with to Cafe Dumond in the French Quarter
Enjoying my beignet while making a mess of powdered sugar
An awesome restaurant we visited in the French Quarter
Our trip was more than working at the nursing home and going to the French Quarter. We also visited City Hall and had some of the top health officials in the city talk to us about the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city. Additionally, I was able to help out a church at a warehouse/shelter for those in need. I moved furniture, rearranged supplies, and set up a stage for a rap concert. As an entire group, we spent part of Wednesday painting a house that had been damaged by the hurricane.
We visited City Hall to truly make it a service-learning trip
Bethany helped clean showers at the church’s shelter
Painting as part of our volunteer work
Our entire group that went down to New Orleans
During our free time at Camp Hope, we had fun by playing games, entering the Talent Show, and playing basketball. Playing Spoons became very violent and several injuries were incurred. On one round, I lunged across the table, reached for the spoon that had fallen to the floor, fell to the concrete floor, and grabbed the spoon which landed right underneath my original chair. Through all of this, I managed to elbow someone in the head. Those games were intense. Most of us were very tired from the work days, so it wasn’t quite a break and nights didn’t last too late. In fact, we were waking up earlier than we would on a school day, so we needed all the rest we could get.
Intense games of spoons
One thing that I did not plan on before going on the trip was being on TV. However, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition happened to be working on a house in the area and needed help. So, our group spent Thursday helping them out on the day of the reveal. There wasn’t much work to be done, but I helped out with sodding of the lawn and was at the head of the line for that. I also was grabbed to appear in a shot for a vehicle the family was given. It is quite an operation. There are dozens and dozens of camper trailers, freight containers, supervisors, and much more. It consumes at least an entire city block with their production sets and supplies. So much of the show is staged and a lot of people felt slighted. They redid many of the takes at least five times until it was right and I was told that the family’s reactions to the house if usually the third of fourth take. I never got inside, but my friends told me that it was nice, but not like what you see on TV. There were dents in the floors and errors all over the place. However, the crew does come back and redo things. They didn’t even have enough sod for all the lawn, so there was straw down. But even what sod they did not look green or healthy at all. However, I bet you won’t see any of the faults on TV. I will watch the show differently now that I have seen how it is produced. However, I still think it’s great what the show does for deserving families. This episode is scheduled to be the season finale, so watch for me in the section with the car and at the head of the line of sodders. We didn’t end up staying for the reveal, but it was quite an interesting day.
The house for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Ty Pennington appeared every now and then
That’s me at the head of the line
I even got this awesome T-shirt as a souvenir
Before heading home, our group went to visit the French Quarter one more time in the evening. It was our third visit, but I visited different areas each time. This time, I was curious to see what Bourbon Street was like at night. Some of the group sang karaoke and we danced in the street and people had a pretty good time.
The group I was with on Bourbon Street
Singing karaoke on Bourbon Street
Finally, we began the long trek home on Saturday and arrived early Sunday morning. I’m glad that I went on the trip and will look at going again next year. I made a lot of new friends and had a good time, even though it wasn’t very restful. I had no idea that there was so much left to do and that the effects of the hurricane stretched so much farther than physical damages. I know this post has been rather long, but I hope that it kept you entertained. I’ll let you know the air date for the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode that we were a part of as soon as I know.
Quote of the Week: “All the riches of the kings end up in wills” - “Gone” by Switchfoot
Thought to Ponder: Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes?
Shout Outs: Everyone from CDRT
YouTube Video of the Week:
Try this one
