NOLA love and looking back
Here is something I wrote a few days after returning to Buffalo from Spring Break in New Orleans... it's a terrible mess of a journal but at the time it had come from the heart.
I fully believe that I left my heart in New Orleans and that I belong there right now. Everything about the entire week was perfect, no matter the circumstances, no matter how terrible things really were around me. I could not have asked for a better spring break and wish I could have stayed there for a much, much longer time.
One thing that was so amazing about the trip was being surrounded by genuinely good people. It is so great to be reminded that there are people like you in the world who care about humanity. It is motivating, energizing, inspirational, and gives me hope and faith in this world. Meeting the New Orleans residents was also life changing. Every person I met kept their heads up with an amazingly positive outlook on life. I can never complain again. Through tragedy, they saw purpose. Through devastation, they saw new light. While everything seemed to end around them, they endured. One of my team members asked a local if they were ready to pick up and start life again. He answered that life had never ended. Life continued on and accepting the fate of the situation was the only thing to do. Some said they prayed a lot to get by. Not one single person I met sounded discouraged or down on their luck. They expressed hope, they expressed their pain and sorrow from the situation, but they expressed deeper gratitude for life itself and people like “us”.
I found it so easy to be discouraged in the beginning of our trip. As our bus traveled more and more throughout the city and with every corner we turned I saw something worse than the previous corner, I knew New Orleans was far more devastated then I could have ever imagined in my lifetime. Once I had thought I had seen the darkest part of the area, I would be put in my place minutes later with an even more chilling sight. To try and go into a house and gut it seems like such a small thing to do to a city that is 80% devastated. We had to stop deconstruction in our first house because it was found to be structurally unsound. After just a day and a half of working in that house, I had become attached to it and Ms. Wheeler the homeowner, and I felt an sense of “home” in its presence. Ms. Wheeler had lived in that house all 75 years of her life. Her mother was born and died in that house. There is so much history in that house and all Ms. Wheeler wants to do is pass it down to her daughter. Now, she lives in her son’s FEMA trailer down the street because although she was one of the first to receive a trailer, she is one of the only ones in her neighborhood to be neglected. Her electricity has still not been turned on in the trailer so it is useless to her. Her son and daughter-in-law gave Ms. Wheeler the trailer while they live in the second story of their home which anybody can assume is not healthy.
To hear her life story and the sorrow she has gone through in the past months, it was heartbreaking to hear that not much more could be done to the house at the moment and maybe never. However, Ms. Wheeler, though upset, thanked us profusely. We had given her a start to her goal. We had lifted some weight off of her shoulders and had given her hope in the youth of today. I will never forget her and her kindness and strength and hope to visit her again soon and to see progress in her life. (Edit: about a week and a half, maybe two weeks after the trip, a friend from Duke who was in my group told me some great news-- Common Ground decided to adopt Ms. Wheeler's house and totally fix/restore it. Thanks to some necessary nagging by Dan from Duke, this was possible. These are the kinds of people I met down in N.O. Just unbelievably decent human beings...)
The thanks we received from Ms. Wheeler rid me of some discouragement. But I still couldn’t help but think, our group had helped one house out of who knows how many devastated by Katrina. One. There were so many more to go and by the end of the week we had helped with three. How could that make any difference? There were still hundreds of thousands left without homes in the area. And gutting houses… it seemed so destructive. It took a while to fully grasp the concept and reality that we were not demolishing these people’s houses. We were deconstructing the mess that Katrina had left behind and were bringing the house down to its original structure so that families could have the hope of moving back into the “HOMES” again. These houses were destroyed but the homes did not have to be… and realizing we were helping people put their homes back into place was crucial.
Even more encouraging was being stopped by locals on the street in their cars or from their porches. All it took was a 30 second conversation to say that they really appreciated what we were doing for their hometown. That was the turning point in my week. When a car stopped us to tell us we were really doing something good for New Orleans, I found new strength and inspiration to keep working. Though we couldn’t see total progress being made, progress was being made possible by our hands and hard labor.
Our team experienced true Southern Hospitality at its very finest mid-week after our most tiring and successful days. A man in a pick-up truck told us to hop in the back of the truck and he would save us the 30 minute walk back to Common Ground. Although I was a little concerned, I was so thankful. When we arrived at Common Ground we got to meet the man and he told us it was the least he could do for the service we were doing to his fellow citizens. I would have never imagined experiencing gratitude in that way but it was just so eye-opening and made me really have a love for the people of New Orleans. Their great spirit and sense of tradition and pride in their city is what makes New Orleans so special… and it is still so special.
The one thing I noticed most on the first day in New Orleans was how beautiful it really was. It was sad at first to think about it because I knew if I thought it was beautiful now, then I could not imagine how beautiful it must have been before Katrina hit. There is this wonderful inner beauty that haloes everything in the area. The darkest and most destructed places I found beauty in. New Orleans is proof that beauty is not skin deep. Beauty is spirit and culture and tradition. It is unexplainable. Maybe I was the only one who felt that way… but I was overwhelmed by New Orleans’ presence and splendor through the shrouds of a disaster. There is nothing like it.
Now that I am back in Buffalo, I feel lost. I feel empty. Part of me misses my wonderful peers at Common Ground and from UB. Other parts of me miss the amazing people of New Orleans. The rest of me feels lost and useless. I can’t focus on school. I can only focus on my experience over spring break, the work we accomplished, and the people I have made bonds with through our service and common experience. Nobody at home will ever understand what we went through in Louisiana. We only have each other. And that is enough to not feel so alone with our thoughts and feelings. I am so proud of everyone on the trip from UB. I have profound respect for each and every person for sticking it out and no matter how devastating things really got, for persevering. I know that meeting some people on the bus on the way down, I heard varying reasons for going on the trip. “It was something to do” changed to a new outlook on life and a pride in what we had done with a desire to go back. That makes me the happiest-seeing that people have changed because of this experience. I believe we are all better and stronger people for it and nothing will ever change that.
I, for one, need to go back to that place. It has captured my heart and shown me where I really belong in my life. I know what is important and I have learned that this type of thing really is what I think I am called to do at this point in my life. Whether New Orleans is the only opportunity I get to help, so be it. I will take that opportunity and I will go back and give back to those in need. My life is way too great to have it wait around for something better to do. I found that something better and I found it in New Orleans.
I fully believe that I left my heart in New Orleans and that I belong there right now. Everything about the entire week was perfect, no matter the circumstances, no matter how terrible things really were around me. I could not have asked for a better spring break and wish I could have stayed there for a much, much longer time.
One thing that was so amazing about the trip was being surrounded by genuinely good people. It is so great to be reminded that there are people like you in the world who care about humanity. It is motivating, energizing, inspirational, and gives me hope and faith in this world. Meeting the New Orleans residents was also life changing. Every person I met kept their heads up with an amazingly positive outlook on life. I can never complain again. Through tragedy, they saw purpose. Through devastation, they saw new light. While everything seemed to end around them, they endured. One of my team members asked a local if they were ready to pick up and start life again. He answered that life had never ended. Life continued on and accepting the fate of the situation was the only thing to do. Some said they prayed a lot to get by. Not one single person I met sounded discouraged or down on their luck. They expressed hope, they expressed their pain and sorrow from the situation, but they expressed deeper gratitude for life itself and people like “us”.
I found it so easy to be discouraged in the beginning of our trip. As our bus traveled more and more throughout the city and with every corner we turned I saw something worse than the previous corner, I knew New Orleans was far more devastated then I could have ever imagined in my lifetime. Once I had thought I had seen the darkest part of the area, I would be put in my place minutes later with an even more chilling sight. To try and go into a house and gut it seems like such a small thing to do to a city that is 80% devastated. We had to stop deconstruction in our first house because it was found to be structurally unsound. After just a day and a half of working in that house, I had become attached to it and Ms. Wheeler the homeowner, and I felt an sense of “home” in its presence. Ms. Wheeler had lived in that house all 75 years of her life. Her mother was born and died in that house. There is so much history in that house and all Ms. Wheeler wants to do is pass it down to her daughter. Now, she lives in her son’s FEMA trailer down the street because although she was one of the first to receive a trailer, she is one of the only ones in her neighborhood to be neglected. Her electricity has still not been turned on in the trailer so it is useless to her. Her son and daughter-in-law gave Ms. Wheeler the trailer while they live in the second story of their home which anybody can assume is not healthy.
To hear her life story and the sorrow she has gone through in the past months, it was heartbreaking to hear that not much more could be done to the house at the moment and maybe never. However, Ms. Wheeler, though upset, thanked us profusely. We had given her a start to her goal. We had lifted some weight off of her shoulders and had given her hope in the youth of today. I will never forget her and her kindness and strength and hope to visit her again soon and to see progress in her life. (Edit: about a week and a half, maybe two weeks after the trip, a friend from Duke who was in my group told me some great news-- Common Ground decided to adopt Ms. Wheeler's house and totally fix/restore it. Thanks to some necessary nagging by Dan from Duke, this was possible. These are the kinds of people I met down in N.O. Just unbelievably decent human beings...)
The thanks we received from Ms. Wheeler rid me of some discouragement. But I still couldn’t help but think, our group had helped one house out of who knows how many devastated by Katrina. One. There were so many more to go and by the end of the week we had helped with three. How could that make any difference? There were still hundreds of thousands left without homes in the area. And gutting houses… it seemed so destructive. It took a while to fully grasp the concept and reality that we were not demolishing these people’s houses. We were deconstructing the mess that Katrina had left behind and were bringing the house down to its original structure so that families could have the hope of moving back into the “HOMES” again. These houses were destroyed but the homes did not have to be… and realizing we were helping people put their homes back into place was crucial.
Even more encouraging was being stopped by locals on the street in their cars or from their porches. All it took was a 30 second conversation to say that they really appreciated what we were doing for their hometown. That was the turning point in my week. When a car stopped us to tell us we were really doing something good for New Orleans, I found new strength and inspiration to keep working. Though we couldn’t see total progress being made, progress was being made possible by our hands and hard labor.
Our team experienced true Southern Hospitality at its very finest mid-week after our most tiring and successful days. A man in a pick-up truck told us to hop in the back of the truck and he would save us the 30 minute walk back to Common Ground. Although I was a little concerned, I was so thankful. When we arrived at Common Ground we got to meet the man and he told us it was the least he could do for the service we were doing to his fellow citizens. I would have never imagined experiencing gratitude in that way but it was just so eye-opening and made me really have a love for the people of New Orleans. Their great spirit and sense of tradition and pride in their city is what makes New Orleans so special… and it is still so special.
The one thing I noticed most on the first day in New Orleans was how beautiful it really was. It was sad at first to think about it because I knew if I thought it was beautiful now, then I could not imagine how beautiful it must have been before Katrina hit. There is this wonderful inner beauty that haloes everything in the area. The darkest and most destructed places I found beauty in. New Orleans is proof that beauty is not skin deep. Beauty is spirit and culture and tradition. It is unexplainable. Maybe I was the only one who felt that way… but I was overwhelmed by New Orleans’ presence and splendor through the shrouds of a disaster. There is nothing like it.
Now that I am back in Buffalo, I feel lost. I feel empty. Part of me misses my wonderful peers at Common Ground and from UB. Other parts of me miss the amazing people of New Orleans. The rest of me feels lost and useless. I can’t focus on school. I can only focus on my experience over spring break, the work we accomplished, and the people I have made bonds with through our service and common experience. Nobody at home will ever understand what we went through in Louisiana. We only have each other. And that is enough to not feel so alone with our thoughts and feelings. I am so proud of everyone on the trip from UB. I have profound respect for each and every person for sticking it out and no matter how devastating things really got, for persevering. I know that meeting some people on the bus on the way down, I heard varying reasons for going on the trip. “It was something to do” changed to a new outlook on life and a pride in what we had done with a desire to go back. That makes me the happiest-seeing that people have changed because of this experience. I believe we are all better and stronger people for it and nothing will ever change that.
I, for one, need to go back to that place. It has captured my heart and shown me where I really belong in my life. I know what is important and I have learned that this type of thing really is what I think I am called to do at this point in my life. Whether New Orleans is the only opportunity I get to help, so be it. I will take that opportunity and I will go back and give back to those in need. My life is way too great to have it wait around for something better to do. I found that something better and I found it in New Orleans.