Unfortunately, we only have one laptop with us on the trip and I have only blogged once since coming to New Orleans. Luckily, I am among the few who have not blogged in NO yet. Nonetheless, I will update you since my last blog.

Day 5 update

Thursday was a fun day! We actually switched our Thursday and Friday on our itinerary for special circumstances. Thursday we went on our disaster tour which was extremely informative. One of the founders of PNOLA, Jim, gave us the official tour. We went to 17th street and passed through the Lakeview neighborhood. Seventeenth street was where the first levee failed. Little did I know before this miniterm that more than one levee failed. The seventeenth street canal failed due to the way that it was constructed. During the storm, the levee completely broke off at two ends and the fell. The second levee that we went to was at the Industrial Canal in the Lower Ninth Ward. This area of New Orleans got the most coverage because of its devastation and poverty. From the levee you could see that there were no trees within 200 ft of the levee because the impact of the water uprooted ALL of those trees. The Lower Ninth Ward is still not in good shape. It still has lots of empty lots. With all do respect, the Lower Ninth (five years later) looked like a community graveyard. Despite the realistic tour, we had a BBQ with PNOLA, had Po’ Boys at a hip 50’s looking restaurant and bowled to zydeco music at Mid-City Rock and Bowl. The zydeco music was most definitely the high light of the entire trip!

Day 6 update

Friday was our last day with PNOLA. This day was particularly special. You see, the house that we were working  at was being funded by a player from The Saints (Roman Harper).  We were told that Roman would be coming to help us sheet rock and what not. So, we waited ALL day and he finally came just as we were leaving. In reality, he just came to take pictures and take a tour of the house. He himself even said that he didn’t realize the bad condition of the neighborhood and that it was “messed up”. I think he was referring to the fact that is was messed up that the wealthier parts of New Orleans have been rebuilt, but the Upper Ninth Ward had not been.

There is a reoccuring theme in this mini-term. Things are messed up. As a player in The Saints football team, how did he not know that these neighborhoods were suffering. This area is practically in his backyard, yet he is too consumed with his life to notice. Even though he donated money to rebuild the house, I am still skeptical. I believe that money was just donated for publicity. Considering the fact that

-he didn’t come help us build

-he only stayed for 20 min to sign autographs and such

-and the film crew was at our work site 3 hours before he was makes me believe that this whole ordeal was just for show.

Day 7 update

Saturday was our last full day in New Orleans. I wish I had more time to explore the srtistic and musical culture that New Orleans has to offer. On Saturday, we went to the Blair grocery project to help out on the urban farm in the Lower Ninth Ward. It was an interesting experience. I didn’t mind the wood chips, the decaying compost or the manure at all. Nonetheless, I was really surprised with the man who started the organization. I came here expecting to get a talk about urban farming and how it is good to be sustainable, but our talk was more about community service and how it is temporary. The people in the world who are not very fortunate need help in understadning how to improve. Most of the time community service makes us feel good, but we just do the work for them. In similar ways, the Peace Corps is an organization that puts people in a developing country for 2 years to create connections and imrpove lifestyles for many generations to come. That is why the man who owned the organization has made this project his life goal. I hold a lot of respect for him. He was a great teacher in one of the best schools in NYC and he gave it all away. He has basically been sacrificing his material life (clothes, a house, a car, a partner) to improve the life of others because no one else has even tried.

Day 8 (theoretically today…ignore the date on this post…I started it on Sunday and have not completed it until now!)

Sunday was a nice day. We all cleaned up the church and headed south to Dulac. Unfortunatley, I do not have cell phone service here (T-mobile is the worst) and there aren’t many things to do. However, I think that this will be the best part of the trip because we will be forced to grow together during our last week here without any distractions 🙂

The few days we have spent here in Dulac, LA have been so incredibly different than those that we spent in New Orleans. The most obvious difference is the landscape; it is as though you can see for miles across the fields and wetlands, dotted by houses sitting on stilts, infrastructure of the oil industry, and multitudes of boats (some of which appear to have been abandoned in the water decades ago). We learned more about Dulac when we met the coordinator at the Dulac community center, where we are staying. She told us about the struggles of the people here, and the efforts of the community center and thousands of volunteers who come here yearly to help ease their blight. The man that we helped that day was disabled and basically abandoned by his family. Though he lived with a partner, it was clear that they struggled to provide for themselves and take care of their home. Seeing the conditions they lived in, and talking to them about the difficulties they faced was by far the most difficult experience I have had so far on this trip. It was just so hard to see two people, who so clearly needed help from others, be left on their own to struggle with poverty, abandonment, and depression. Their hopes of leaving Dulac further emphasized the feelings that they (and many others) seem to have towards this struggling community. However, with the efforts of the Dulac Community Center, it certainly seems that there are people working to change it for the better.

Today was by far my favorite day of this Miniterm. We woke up early and piled into the van to make a two hour trip to Port Fourchon. When we arrived, we were greeted by members of BTNEP, a non-profit group working to restore the Barataria-Terrebonne wetlands. We boated to a sand bar, where we spent the day planting various types of native trees, such as Live Oak and Black Mangrove. Working in the wetlands was such a wonderful experience because of the beautiful scenery and wildlife that surrounded us. After we planted the 1,000 trees, we boated for a while around the area. It was amazing to see that scenes of pristine wildlife, such as a flock of hundreds of pelicans flying through the air, was just a short boat ride away from a refueling site for large oil vessels. It reminded me of a lot that we have seen in Louisiana; two things that so obviously contradict one another existing side by side, with no one saying or doing much about it.

One new thing I learned in New Orleans was about Brad Pitt’s project to build sustainable new houses in the lower ninth ward. I thought it was cool because it addresses not only the problem of the ruined homes, but also a cause of the hurricane that helped to destroy them.

This week at the urban farm nat talked to us about service and volunteering. He said he would rather have employees than volunteers because he felt that employees would be more committed to working at the farm long term and doing a good job short term. I think that this is a good ideology to have because in the real world we will more often be employees than volunteers, so being a good employee is something that we must learn to perfect. To me, the difference between service and volunteering is that volunteering is short term–I can volunteer to clean this dishes or tutor kids for an hour—and service is more long term–one can serve their country in the army or as president, for example. This distinction became clearer to me after my second day at work last week. The first day was good. I had plenty of energy before and after and didnt lose motivation. But each day got harder as I began to understand how much work each day required and that the next few would be exactly the same. It was much harder to be motivated the last day of the week than the first, and for that reason I felt much more accomplished after 5 days of work than I did after 1 or 2, and not because I had accomplished more, but that I had committed more time to the cause. I hope that by continuing volunteering after the mini term, that I can serve Schenectady and the wherever I live next.

The community, work, and atmosphere is completely different here in Dulac. Dulac is pretty empty, but it is gorgeous! I’ve loved how pretty it is, you can see all of the stars, and last night I was siting outside and could here an owl! It is hard seeing people live in such harsh housing environments though. We worked in one house that left their stove running in order to heat their home and that was really sad but we did our best to clean up the house and support them. Ps. if anyone would like a dog, they are unable to bring their dog to the home they are moving to and are looking for a new home for their beloved family dog. They really appreciated it and we all left feeling like we made a difference for them that day. New Orleans and Dulac have both been amazing experiences in the community and helping those who need support and a kind word. Community service projects like these have no boundaries or limits and are and will always be needed, so I hope people can listen to our experiences and find a way to incorporate community service into their lives in some way that they can help and enjoy it for themselves at the same time. This trip really makes me appreciate the upbringing I have had and I think it strengthens your relationships with your family, y recognizing how precious family is.  With nothing else, and even in the worst situations, the people we work with are incredibly connected to their family and that seems to provide them with the strength to pull through even the roughest situations in their lives. It has been difficult, strenuous, and exhausting, but definitely worth it because we have been doing amazing things for people who need it, especially with the holidays so close. I’m excited to see what the rest of the week has in store, but I am also excited to get home and apply this to life back home.

What I didn’t expect:

What surprised me was how much work we actually got done. I didn’t think the group was going to be able to finnish as much as we did on the houses. It always feels much better to finnish more than you thought you would in any task. This week was a good successful week in my book!

What I learned about service:

This past week really taught me the importance of service learning. What really stuck out was how the group would put their differences aside on the work site and always came together to work on the project of that day. Last week the group split up into two smaller groups to work on two different sites. The house which I was in was small and crowded in the beginning of the week but opened up with time when the house came together. This wouldn’t have been possible without the help of everyone in the group and volunteers. This help is much needed all throughout New Orleans.

Since it has been about 5 years since Hurricane Katrina I would never have know the devastation that remains in New Orleans. Homes are still empty and people are still in need of the help of volunteers. That is why I am so glad I decided to do this trip. So many people do not understand that there is still so much work to do – including me before the trip.

Pam Jenkins, one of the speakers we had while staying in New Orleans, put everything into perspective for me by saying, “you are giving someone their life back.” This sentence sticks in my mind because I did not even think about it on such a personal level prior to her comment. I can’t image losing everything I own, escaping my town, and then returning to nothing. However, this is what many of the families in New Orleans experienced. By building these houses we are returning them to normalcy, giving them hope, and handing them back a piece of their life that has been taken away from them for five years now. In many ways this gives me back faith that every little bit counts. Every wall I insulated and every nail I had to screw was just one more step in completing this house. I am honored to say that I have played a part in repairing three homes – helping out so many people that truly deserve this.

Now I get to experience what those in Dulac had to deal with and I am very ready for that challenge.

A few days ago, Professor Grigsby said, “I don’t think of you guys as inanimate stones. You are all working very hard”. Being in New Orleans was the experience of a lifetime. I can now successfully say that I am able to put in insulation, sheetrock, and put in tiled floors. One of my favorite parts of this trip thus far was working with the people in Americorps. Their hardwork and dedication to society really made me strive to have that same determination. In only a week at NOLA, I helped re-build three different homes around the city, ultimately putting a smile on the homeowner’s faces. I did not know I had the ability to do construction on houses, but it goes to show that you can do anything you sincerely set your mind to.

It is hard to comprehend the amount of new information I have obtained on this trip so far, but I specifically recall the disaster tour with Jim last week. Going to the different sites around the city to see where levees broke was truly fascinating. Furthermore, I was very intrigued by the countless amount of X’s on the houses, indicating that the house was searched post-Katrina. It really hit home to know that so many houses were searched for unpleasant purposes, and to see that many of the X’s are still present on the houses five years later.

Aside from the incredible nightlife on Bourbon Street, My biggest excitement has been my will to wake up every morning to embark on a new journey. Every day has been very different and quite informative, I only hope to recall as much information as I can to share it with as many people as possible upon my arrival home.

Today (Dec. 14) the group went out to the wetlands to plant some trees to help with coastal preservation! It was an early morning when we piled into the vans at 6am! Fortunately, all of us were able to sleep on the way there except for Jan and Joe who were driving.
We knew that we were going out on boats and there would be no toilets or areas to become warm. We packed our lunch and were off like a heard of turtles!
The day was spent by drilling holes into the Earth with very cool power drills. Once the holes were created, someone would plant a small plant in the hole and cover it up with dirt. We ended up planting about 1000 trees! This was quite a day at work. The view from the marshes was beautiful. At the end of the day it was nice to stand on the marsh and look over a calm area. It was one of the first times I was able to see through the harsh conditions in Louisiana and recognize the hope and essence of this wonderful place.

Till next time . . . .

When 9/11 happened I was in 6th grade. The first day back at school my Social Studies teacher said to our class, “You may not realize it, but your innocence has been taken from you.” And it had. And I felt it. That is kind of how I’m feeling on this trip. We have learned so much about various things such as the government, the wetlands, the corruption of the New Orleans police department, the human destruction to our wetlands, the oil spill, and the fact that Hurricane Katrina was not a “natural” disaster. The poverty we have witnessed, and the situations we have learned about, are opening my eyes to the world around me. I am a Junior in college, and I have looked at the world generally positively, and without adequate regard to the major issues that are present. Mainly, I have looked at the world without questioning it. Now I am learning to question the world around me and not to simply accept it for what it is. 9/11 darkened my view, however I was still a bit young. Although I am young now, I am at a point in my life where I am developing my ideas, beliefs, and opinions about the world, and the life I want to live. Opening myself to the truth behind certain issues has certainly darkened my innocence. With this loss of innocence and naivety, comes the importance of morality and question. It has shown me that morality is extremely important to me, and the people I have met on this trip, and that provides a bit of light and excitement.

Community service is an interesting thing. One of the things I have primarily learned is that education about what you are doing is extremely important, not necessarily about the physical thing that you are doing, but the overall concept of why you are doing it, and why it needs to be done. Also, the main thing is that it is often temporary service. There is so much more to it than simply the act. It is hard to put yourself in the position of the people who you are trying to help. In fact, it is impossible. But you must forget about yourself, and try your hardest to understand the world from other perspectives. Union College is such a bubble of paradise and we are often so wrapped up in our studies and social lives. We may not be able to completely immerse ourselves in other ways of life and situations, however, we can go outside our bubble and think beyond. I am beyond grateful for this opportunity. The things I am learning are extremely significant.

After leaving New Orleans and spending our first work day in Dulac it made me realize how important culture is to community members. Our mini term is community service based so we’ve worked in impoverished neighborhoods and with people who live with struggles I can’t imagine facing but I’ve noticed that what keeps people going is their pride. In New Orleans we met many people whose homes and community had been destroyed but they chose to come back and rebuild. The people I’ve seen seem to have such a strong connection and relationship with their neighbors and community that they would rather risk another serious hurricane than live else where. When I talked with children from the Lower Ninth Ward they expressed how much they enjoyed walking around the French Quarter and it seems that regardless of how difficult their situation might be there is a temporary relief. Although I’ve only been in Dulac for a day it seems as if there is less of a relief from the day to day hardship. Today we worked with a family to clean their house to help them sell it. It was painful to see the situation they had been living under for years. The house its self was falling apart and the back yard was covered with decomposing furniture. When we had the chance to talk with the woman who lived there she expressed that her favorite things to do involved going to Walmart and eating dinner out. It broke my heart that things my family does on a regular bases and barely even thinks twice about were things this woman loved most. For this family the relief and escape from their difficult life is Walmart.

This community service term is unlike any community service I’ve taken part in before because I have immersed myself into the culture and situation far more than I have in the past. One challenge for me has been to look at the situation from the perspective of the people living it. As an outsider sometimes my first impulse is to want to give the people I’m working with everything I have and the life I live. I’ve realized that not only is it impossible but it is also far from what these people want. At first I would look at houses that were completely destroyed and wonder why the home owners didn’t just knock the house down and build a new home and it was difficult for me to understand how important it was for them to rebuild the house they’ve lived in for centuries even if it meant compromising the quality. I feel so blessed that I’ve been given the opportunity to work in New Orleans and Dulac and I look forward to bringing what I’ve learned here back to Union.