[the day starts with the never-boring Donal (R) teaching Patrick/Peter yoga]
Everyone (almost everyone) was totally energized today! We were all overcome with emotion from the previous day's encounter with the homeowners, the week's impending end, and our progress on the house. A couple more action shots:
[(L) Susan smiles and wheelbarrows. (R) Teri and Dan break into a bedroom closet.]
The day flew by and before we knew it, it was lunchtime. We were working across the street from the park that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition featured on their April 6 broadcast! So we had lunch in the park. It was nice, albeit surrounded by destruction.
We heard FEMA was in town to look at the 'Thousandth House' gutted by H4H and to announce if/how much they will extend the funding by. Susan was chosen to represent our group at the meeting, but her ride was late and she missed it - bummer! But the good news is that Camp Premier will be open until June 15. Keep TRUCKIN'!!
At this point, scroll back to yesterday (Day 6) and look at how the house looked...and now, after just 1.5 days:
[(L) after one day's work! (R) Sarah and I tended to 'own' rooms everytime we had a new house, which basically means we picked a room and went to town on it, owning everything from scraping up the insulation to knocking down the sheet rock to pulling up the baseboards.]
[(L) long lost picture of the owner's late mother! survived! (R) Katrina ain't got nuthin' on Barbie!]
[(L) Sarah takes out OUR LAST LOAD OF TRASH!!!! (R) Our team after a week of sweat and tears.]
This was just the most amazing experience and we were all sad to leave. We left the house with only the bathrooms left to go. On our way back to the camp, we finalized our team cheer. Here it is, in full:
We're solid gold
We don't like mold
Or leaving people
Out in the cold!
-
We don't like FEMA
We can't stand Bush
We're here to give
That extra push!
-
We're knocking sheet rock
We're breaking glass
We're pulling floorboards
We're kicking ASS!
-
We love the people
Of St. Bernard
And that is why
We work so hard!
-
We sing and dance
We have some fun
And that is how
We'll GIT 'ER DONE!
-
Team Gold #1: The Solid Gold Muckers, St. Bernard Parish, April 3-7, 2006!
***
That night our Carson City ladies invited Sarah and I to crash with them in the Hilton! YES, comfy digs! (otherwise, we were going to stay in Hotel Dodge Stratus since camp curfew was at midnight). We showered, packed, and checked out of the camp. Next stop: Hippie Camp, which we simply wanted to 'see'...ahem. Hippie Camp was a...camp of...hippies who ad-hoc volunteered and lived in tents on the campground. It smelled like patchouli and The Grass...mmm. Sarah and I had fleeting thoughts of living there over the summer. Then I remembered that I don't like being that dirty for that long.
We then decided to drive through the Lower Ninth Ward again (or, according to the man we met at the soup kitchen (Sarah, name?): Nnnaaaighn-Waahd). This time we took a drive through some of the side streets. This area has not been TOUCHED post-K (everything is pre- and post-K - for Katrina); the streets are deserted, no lights, and bugs everywhere. Reminiscent of a ghost town. (some of the pics turned out strange and spooky).
Amazing, huh? These houses were not made to withstand a hurricane greater than category '3' let alone a flood and multiple category '5' hurricanes. There is strong speculation that this area won't even be rebuilt, both because of the risk factor and also the fact that many people who lived there are not coming back. They've relocated in TX, AL, OK, other places in LA. They had to start new lives at some point, and since the government couldn't get their shit together to let them know when a plan will be in place (still no word, 8 months later!), the homeowners threw up their hands and started anew. (some of them now live in Oprahland!). I find it incredible that the tens of thousands who once lived here were just 'forgotten' by their own government. What a shame. What a damn shame.
One second of interlude here, to say I've never been one to have strong opinions about the government - mainly, I shake my head and move on - but this experience showed me that we can't depend on our government, we can't rely on their motives, we can't understand their missions. All we can do is TAKE ACTION OURSELVES. Everyone has a humanitarian inside of them...it's at our core...if people don't have each other, what do they have? stuff? Stuff is meaningless. Anytime I asked a local what their experience was with Katrina, the FIRST thing out of their mouths was about their families and friends.
Forget stuff. As Gandhi once said, which I have repeated to myself as long as I can remember: "BE the change you want to see in the world".
BE!
