So far we have been on-site with St. Bernard's Project for two days (this afternoon will be our third). We are split into two sites, and our project has been mudding. We are making good progress and our supervisors expect this process to be finished by Friday. There are two main things I want to discuss in this blog.
First, we met our home owner and learned his story. He is an 86 year old great-grandfather who moved to New Orleans in 1940 and has lived here since. The month before the storm, his wife passed away and he reluctantly evacuated before the storm. A few years after the storm, which completely destroyed his house, re-construction was in the final stage and nearing completion when a fire occurred and the entire house was back to square one. Meeting him and hearing this devastating story was a great experience and he was very nice and grateful. We also had the opportunity to meet his daughter, grandson, and great grand daughter.
The second thing I wanted to discuss is the difference between this week and my freshman year. While parts of the city (specifically blocks in the 9th ward) are still empty and have yet to be rebuilt, the progress in the past years is noticeable. Sometimes you lose sight of the fact that "just mudding" for a week is important. When you only see one tiny piece of building a house it's sometimes hard to see your importance but when you see the cumulative work of all these volunteers who "just" did this or "just" did that it reminds you that it all adds up. The St. Bernard's project has completed over 500 houses with the majority of that work being done by volunteers which shows that the little bit we accomplish in a week adds up and helps rebuild the city of New Orleans.
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