Sorry it’s been a couple of days since we posted.  I’ve been having a heck of a time getting this blog software to let us post pictures.  I’m working on this as I sit in the van, while the students are hard at work putting in flooring in one of the houses we are working on.  They are doing awesome work and having a fantastic time doing it.  Hopefully, over the next day, you’ll begin to see their posts, illustrated!

Our Housing in New Orleans 

Carrollton UMC are our gracious hosts here.  They have been housing out-of-town volunteer groups ever since Katrina.  We are in one big room on the second floor, sleeping on bunk beds in our sleeping bags. The Carrollton Church [see link to their website at right] did not flood during Katrina, although many members’ homes were damaged.  The church is near the foot of S. Carrollton avenue, very near the Mississippi River.  You can’t see the river from here, of course, because it is behind the levee!  Carrollton Ave is a beautiful tree-lined boulevard, down the middle of which runs the St. Charles street cars, now back in service.  The homes in this area are old, classic southern style and you feel transported back in time to see them. 

A word about the neighborhood and crime…

We are close to some familiar landmarks from home — a new Rite Aid two blocks up the street one way and Walgreens two blocks the other.  So far the students’ favorite though is the French pastry shop which sells great gourmet coffee.

The students also go running in Audubon Park nearby.  The zoo is there, plus golfing,  and a running track.  They’ve been great about sticking together in groups.  

Jim Coningsby, our program director, did a good job of clarifying the safety issues here for them.  In many ways the crime here is as in any big city — you have to be street smart!  There is more crime here than in many other US cities, as you’ve heard, but for the most part the real situation is not as the media hype describes.  What the media leaves out is that virtually all the crime is done by folks with criminal records against others with criminal records.  As long as we don’t do stupid stuff like wander the streets alone, we are as safe here as we are in Schenectady.

Food!  

We have the run of their kitchen, which has about everything we need.  We just provide the food — Molly and her crew stocked up with $600 worth Wednesday nite and we’ve already made a big dent in it. We are divided into 7 work teams for cooking, with different teams doing set up, cooking and cleanup each night.  We each make our own breakfast and sack lunch.  So far it is working great. Carl Winkler’s team served up a tasty pasta dinner last night.

Oops, I’m running out of battery power — more later!!!

Please feel free to comment on our posts — the students grumble about being embarrassed, etc, but they really do love hearing from you all — me, too!  NOTE — please post on this page, not the Katrina page, ok?  That’s for another course!!!

bye y’all – Jan

Ok, we’re here and it’s great! 

 The flights down…

The flights went smoothly — layover in Charlotte and lunch at Chili’s — a nice break after our early 8:30 takeoff. 

 Most of us were wide awake, like Sarah and Kenny above, but a few of us, like Dave, caught up on sleep missed the night before…will he ever live this photo down???

We flew in over Lake Ponchartrain and marveled at how huge it really is…we were fascinated by the causeway. 

Jim Coningsby and Rachel Massey from PNOLA met us at the church for orientation –we start work bright and early at 9 tomorrow.  Surprise — the church has bunks for us this year, so we don’t have to sleep on the floor!  A quick supper at Felipe’s, Jim’s favorite Mexican burrito bar.  A crowd has gone to stock up the kitchen at Winn-Dixie…we start cooking for real tomorrow.  I’m off to bed early to get ready to really begin!

I just finished packing and can’t wait to get on our way to New Orleans! I think my excitement at this point is over riding my other emotions. I am a little nervous for what we are going to see and hear. We continuously are told that New Orleans is a huge culture shock and I don’t think people can know what this means untill actually experiencing it. I am really looking forward to interacting with the Houma tribe and to meet New Orleans residents; I know they want to share their stories and I am excited to listen. I am also looking forward to becoming closer with our group. The past few days have been a blast and I can tell we are all anxious to be in New Orleans. I know we will all work hard and have a great time!

Tomorrow is the big day! It is so exciting to think that by a little after 3 o’clock tomorrow we will be in New Orleans. With all of our recent activities including our trip to the Land Trust and just being together as a group has been really great. By spending so much time together, the class has gotten closer which excites me even more about the trip, now that I know everyone! As I do my last minute packing, and thinking so much about New Orleans, I am really trying to keep an open mind and have no expectations. I feel that this is the only way in which a person from another culture and lifestyle can really understand the difference in living in Louisiana. All in all, tomorrow!!!!!!

So after going to the land trust and using all the tools, I’m really excited to get down to New Orleans. Using the circular saw was fun, and I felt great after putting up the sheet rock (even though I may have mis-measured the first time…), so I can’t wait to see how it feels to do that on the larger scale we will be.  And I didn’t even seriously injure myself!

I can’t believe we leave tomorrow!  Our class has become so close so fast.  This will  make the  experience even more worthwhile.  Having friends to go through this experience with me will connect all of us on a deeper level and will leave an everlasting friendship that we might not be able to have with our family or friends from home. After going to the land trust, I am a lot more comfortable with using tools and excited too show them what we are capable of in New Orleans. Although we have seen numerous amounts of film about New Orleans, every film still hits me. We watched When the Levees Broke after dinner one night. The images in this movie were heartbreaking and disturbing.  One rescue crew found 5 stranded children in a house with their dead mother in one of the rooms.  My goal in going down their is to help this grief stricken community in anyway I can.

Now that we are just two days away from leaving I’m beginning to get really excited for the trip. I think that this morning’s lesson in power tools was really what finally made me truly excited and has left me itching to leave. Through all the articles and books we’ve read as well as the movies we watched I feel like I’m prepared as much as one can be for what we’re going to experience. The one thing that I’m still a bit worried about is the slower pace of life that we will have to get used to. I’m so used to running around from one meeting to class to practice (even this week…) that I think it’ll be a big adjustment for me. I’m up for the challenge though and it’ll probably be good for me to slow down and take some time to breathe. Despite my worries, I am beyond excited to just get down to New Orleans!

I can’t wait to head down to New Orleans. Yesterday we watched an emotional film depicting the government neglect towards Lousianna residents. The documentary vividly illustrated the poor planning and execution used for evacuating residents during hurricane Katrina. It was even more horrific to watch the failed relief effort, which reaffirmed everything we have learned from our class readings and discussions. On a lighter note, today we learned how to properly use a variety of tools we will be using in our efforts to help rebuild homes in New Orleans. I’m expecting big things from our group and as long as we keep an open mind, listen, and be respectful towards those we are helping, I think this will be a very successful trip. Additionally, I know our work will continue on beyond our stay when we return home and educate others about the injustices and proper steps that should be taken to better help New Orleans.  

Today the class spent 2 hours getting trained in the use of power tools at Community Land Trust of Schenectady.  CLTS is an affordable housing agency in our city that helps low to moderate income families become homeowners, using the landtrust model.  I’ve been on their board of directors for a number of years and have great admiration for Bev Burnett, the executive director.  The land trust model has the benefit of keeping housing affordable for the long term in changing markets. It also provides support for new home owners who often struggle to cope with the demands of home ownership.

For the past 2 years, Bev has done a workshop for the service miniterm class in which the students get to practice using the types of tools they’ll use in Louisiana.  Many of them have never used these before.  It was great to see their confidence and skill grow over the short 2-hour workshop.

I’ve posted photos of them at work in the link to my Picasa site at the right. You will see focussed hard work they do.  No captions yet, but I may have time for that while we are on the road. 

We have less than two full days before we depart for New Orleans. As the trip approaches I’m getting more and more excited. But when asked about what I look forward to the most, I realized that I didn’t know specifically what it is that I am excited for. I concluded that there are many reasons for my enthusiasm, but two simple factors weigh more heavily. First, the not-knowing contributes to the thrill. After discussing New Orleans and Dulac, and as our departure draws closer, my anticipation steadily increases, and I find myself even more curious to find what our experience will bring. Second, I’m just eager to work. Now knowing how layered the Post-Katrina situation is, and how various people and organizations have failed to act appropriately (in prevention and relief), I am excited to be contributing to the recovery efforts. All in all, despite a lot of unknown, for what this trip will bring and what I will take from it, I’m ready for Wednesday and looking forward to the next couple weeks.