(no subject)
today my team did our debrief on our first spike project. it really put into perspective how seriously amazing and great and enjoyable and productive and enriching and gratifying and successful the past 3 months of my life have been. here is a small summarization of a tiny part of those months..in the words of my teammate, molly, who was way more well spoken in writing her mandatory reflection than i was.
This first project started with an arranged marriage. A seemingly unlikely pairing of eleven individuals, granted one van, twenty-two pieces of luggage, and an assignment a couple thousand miles away in Mississippi. Over the course of the ensuing week, all of us “newly-weds” stole covert glances at each other, and we bonded by trying to fit everyone’s musical preferences on a single radio. We took turns playing nurse while traveling across the desert as several of the teammates got sick in succession and wondered if we’d ever make it to that vague and far away area known as the “Gulf Coast.”
Arriving first in Louisiana, we were shocked to see how much widespread damage still existed more than a year after the storm and were silenced by the inspectors’ crosses painted on the houses that listed the initials of the inspector, the date inspected and the number of dead found within. We took morbid comfort from words like “One dog, one canary found alive” when they were painted too, sometimes it seemed like the only positive thing we saw.
After our stop in New Orleans, we headed to our project site in Mississippi. When we found out we’d be working on finishing volunteer housing, we were a little downhearted because it didn’t sound as significant as a Habitat for Humanity home for a family, which is what we thought we’d be doing. However, the project began to take on more meaning as we saw how many volunteers came and went each week. It was true, we weren’t building one home for one family, but we were helping finish a place that, over the years, hundreds of people can call home, however temporarily. These volunteers would, in turn, help build those single-family homes, and their volunteer housing would be the bridge that allowed them to do this.
As our project came to a close, the team attended the dedication of a street of Habitat houses, and our broader goal, our bigger purpose became truly apparent. Thirteen houses were presented to thirteen families, but hundreds of people were responsible for their construction and completion. If not for the volunteer housing, many of the volunteers would not have come to Biloxi, Mississippi at all. When we left the project, we left with tears, not because we were downhearted, but because we were leaving our home, however temporary.