RUAB NOLA
by Jennifer Galati
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| The flight that left without us :( |
So, technically this was supposed to be the first day of our trip. It would mainly be traveling, but this was the day we were supposed to arrive in New Orleans. We all arrived at the airport in the early hours of the morning (or the late hours of the night, however you wanna look at it) and were pumped for our trip. We thought we had ample amount of time to get on our plane, but boy were we wrong. After getting held up in bag check, we all were anxious on line of the security check. Once we got checked we sprinted to our gate, which happened to be the farthest one. Unfortunately, when we got there, to our dismay, the door was closed. What sucked the most was that we were 10 minutes early for boarding time! After that we hung around the airport for hours trying to figure out what we were going to do and if we were even going to be able to go. We were all upset, but were still hopeful.
January 8, 2014
ROUND TWO: Luckily, everything worked out and we were able to go on our trip. Sadly, one of our members couldn’t join us, but we still soldiered on. Everything ran smoothly, we made our flights, we got our rental cars, and we got our luggage that was until we got to the house we were supposed to be staying at. When we arrived at the organization’s house, we were all so excited, but what we saw inside still our excitement. The house was a bit messy, didn’t have enough space for us, and was kind of unsafe. Again we felt unease and disappointment. We weren’t sure what we were going to do and just wanted to start doing service. Thankfully our team had the greatest site leaders (Val, Jocelyn, and Nicole,) who basically re-planned our entire trip in the span of a few hours.
So, we ended up staying in a hotel and ordering pizza that night. We all were exhausted and ready to do service the next day.
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| We made it! With bags in hand! |
January 9, 2014
On this day we worked with the Lower Nine Organization. We got to paint the interior of a house that they were building for a family who lost their home because of Katrina. The house was located in the Lower Nine district, the area that got hit the worst, and the neighborhoods definitely humbled and shocked us. There were only a few houses left standing in what used to be lively neighborhoods. Around the house that we were working on were rubble and a few homes.
We spent the entire day painting and finished the entire interior of the house. We all felt a great feeling of pride. When we finished we went back to the Lower Nine house and ate dinner with the members of the organization. They were very welcoming and fed us a delicious taco dinner. We were able to speak to them about all there experiences and learn about what they had accomplished. When we were leaving their house, we witnessed a mini block party going on down the street. People were dancing in the street listening to music. That sight proved that the people who lived in the Lower Nine had a great sense of community that wasn’t lost because of the storm.
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| Hard at work painting a house in Lower Nine |
When we got back to our hotel we washed up and then got delicious beignets, coffee, and hot chocolate at the famous Café Du Monde. There was some great team bonding that night.
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| Our first time at Cafe du Monde |
January 10, 2014
Today we worked with the organization Project Green Light. This organization gives more energy efficient and cost efficient light bulbs to households across New Orleans. Our group was split into two so each team did a different route. My team went all around New Orleans implanting light bulbs in people’s homes.
The first woman we met was named Rosetta. She was an older woman who really touched us with her pride and thankfulness towards life in general. She was so happy to see us helping out and even though she had just gotten surgery, she was so thankful for the blessed life she lives. After Rosetta we met many other great people who told us all about their Hurricane Katrina experiences. Many of them got displaced during the hurricane, either to others states or other sections of the city. Everyone had a unique story.
The thing that stood out most to my group was the contrast in the city. We witnessed areas that had a mansion next to a house that was destroyed. Then there were some places areas that weren’t built up, but a street over were thriving. It was a strange juxtaposition to which we still don’t know the reason.
At the end of our service we met up with our other teammates and went back to our hotel to wash up. After washing up we got po’ boys at a local deli, went down Bourbon Street, and travelled down to the Mississippi River. It was super foggy though, so we couldn’t see much, but it was a fun time.
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| Filling out paperwork with a NOLA resident |
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| Screwing in a lightbulb with Rosetta! |
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