Here’s Lookin At Hallelujah 2007 – St.Stephen’s Mission to UnBog New Orleans: The Blog
What difference does it make? We ARE the difference.Archive for fixin'
Finishing Strong: We Don’t Waste a Minute
So, today was our last day of work here in New Orleans. We’ll be heading back to Seattle tomorrow and, for me, it will be with a heavy heart. There is so much more I wish I could do here, but never the less, it has been an amazing experience. Over at Doris’ house, we finished the flooring and framing today. We had an entire wall (as in 40 feet at least) of framing left to do, but we got it done. It’s an indescribable feeling to see the look on the faces of those you help. Their houses are so far from liveable, but they’re just so greatful you’re there it’s like they wouldn’t care if all you did was clean up after the last group. You truly can’t understand the experience of New Orleans unless you come, so COME! Anyone can help out down here and if everyone would step up, people could get back on their feet. A shout out to the whole group here: thanks for opening your hearts and minds and never giving up. We’ve proved that what may seem impossible is attainable with dedication (and perspiration). I will depart with a quote of mine (God’s really; I don’t think, I just listen) that our group really seemed to respond to: New Orleans has its own spirit, a living breathing culture. Hurricane Katrina and the devistation that entailed is like a deep wound, slow to heal and extremely painful to all those involved. People have tried to slap a band-aid over this huge wound to cover up the true depth of its destruction. The media saying it’s “being dealt with”=band aid. The superdome getting rebuilt while houses remain in ruin=band aid. The big businesses rebuilding while local stores struggle to pay for the walls that were washed away=band aid. Our group came here and saw the truth. We spent the first two days peeling away the band aids and discovering the mess beneath. We took our time and worked our asses off every day to make the biggest difference we could in the little time we had here. It’s hard to leave these houses half done, but we got four houses closer to being liveable. So if we remember nothing else on this trip, I hope and pray we never forget how we peeled away the layers of lies, exposed truth, and began to help heal. Four stiches.
God Bless, Now and Always
-Alix
another reflection on another of our three sites
hey all its Lily again.
I am working on a different site than Jeff (see post below) and so I think I might want to let you all know who else we are working with.
My site is at Miss Doris’ house. Her house is also in the seventh ward. Today we were working mostly on pulling out nails from her framing and pulling up rotted floor boards in the first room. We also were dealing with long lines at Lowes and weird guys looking for work even when we did not ask, but that is unimportant to the work at Doris’ house. What we are planning to do is put down plywood over her existing flooring, besides the flooring that we pulled up today, as subflooring. We also have to do some major framing in Doris’ house. Her walls are just vertical slats and if you push them they wiggle, so we are going to put in some framing against the slat walls so that the roof actually has something holding it up.
Doris is a great person, I had the chance to chat with her today. She is native to New Orleans and she has lived in New Orleans most of her life. She left New Orleans during the storm for Dallas and then to Michigan where her daughter lives. Her house only had flooding up to the bottom of her windows, which is still 8-ish feet up because Doris’ house is raised off the ground on bricks. What destroyed everything else was the mold which looked, as she said, like her house had been on fire. Nothing could be saved because of the mold, which is sad to me because it had the potential to be saved. There was just so much time in between the flooding and actually being able to return that the mold was able to spread.
She also gave me some insight to why many of the houses on her street were still there. She said that many of the people around her were elderly and that many just ended up staying with their relatives and/or in nursing homes or had died. There was alkso the fact that with all their houses and possessions gone, there was nothing to go back to. This makes me wonder why Doris came back because she is in the same situation. What she has is her house, which she said she wished she could show us the pictures of but they were destroyed, and the few things in her FEMA trailer. There is nothing from before and her daughter does not live in New Orleans. I just have to wonder, but I am glad to help her out.
Days of Rest
After two days of touring, we finally began work on the houses. My assignment is an old home belonging to an even older lady.
Beatrice is 101 years old, restricted to her wheelchair, and was surrounded by foot deep water in her 5 room home when she was rescued by a neighbour with a boat. She now lives in a FEMA trailer parked on her daughters’ front lawn.
Our job is to restore her house to a fraction of its original grandeur. We estimate the house to be 70 years old, and her late husbuand, a plasterer, built the house, resulting in wonderful plasterwork, amazing archwork and crown molding, all shaped by one man. In addition to these awesome features, the house boasts what used to be a gorgeous hardwood cherry floor. Dust and grime now cover literally every centimeter. The walls were knocked down, and every electrical device below four feet high is completely ruined.
The amount of work that needs to be put into this house is massive, and even after a day of labor-intensive work, we’ve hardly made a dent in what needs to be done.
Looking at this house as we were leaving, I finally understood why the famed people of New Orleans weren’t returning. An entire life; pictures, furniture, houses, completely destroyed. To say reconstruction would be difficult is a gross understatement, and does no justice. We are attempting a miniscule facet of the overall work, 4 houses out of thousands, and already, after just the first day, I am overwhelmed by all the work that needs to be done.
This 101 year old lady is now confined to a trailer in a yard, after her house, the home she built over 70 years, the house she raised every single one of her children in. The house that her loving husbuand built with his own two hands. Gone. And what she got wasn’t government-paid contracters, she didn’t get the National Guard. What this wonderful woman got was a few well meaning teenagers who are rebuilding her house with no plans, making it up as they go.
Thank You for reading, and for your continued support
Jeff Gary
