While working at Habitat for Humanity Philippines last year, I organized a couple of PCV builds. It was great to come together as a group to help build housing for the poor. It added something when I wrote my appeals – I had met some of the homepartners, so I could speak to their dreams of having their own homes. And I had seen the energy and enthusiasm as the volunteers, workers and homepartners worked side-by-side to help those dreams become reality. And I had had a lot of fun with the group – painting, carrying reinforcing steel, digging sand and gravel, carrying sacks.
I’d wanted to do some volunteering in New Orleans since Katrina happened. Five years ago, I looked for several ways to volunteer, but as an individual without experience in disaster relief, I couldn’t find a way. Five years later, I knew help was still needed – perhaps even more now, as some major relief organizations have recently pulled out. I’d celebrated my birthday with a trip to Southeast Asia and the Drive Across America, but I hadn’t had a party or really seen as much of my friends as I wanted to. So I decided to organize what I billed as the New Orleans Birthday Build. I invited my widest possible network of people, figuring you never know whom this might interest and who might be available. It was tough to arrange everything from the Philippines and then from the road, but it all came together and it was a great experience!
I arrived in New York after the Amtrak Across America trip (writeup still coming, but I’m getting there!), went out to Southampton, unpacked and reorganized (and watched the first two days of the NCAA tournament), and then turned around and flew to New Orleans. No moss gathering here! I arrived in New Orleans on Sunday afternoon and walked around the French Quarter. Not much Katrina damage here, and with tourists flocking back, it seemed alive and well – the Saints’ Super Bowl victory has also helped swell the city pride. The French Quarter may be too trite for some, but I love the architecture and can ignore the drunk and noisy conventioneers. I went to the gallery where fellow Morocco RPCV Kristina works – I had sat next to her on the plane from JFK to Casablanca, she had come up to do a workshop with my rock carver, we’d seen each other on a few other occasions and she was always positive despite having a site without much work. And now she lives in New Orleans and loves hosting people! Joined by her fiancé and by another Morocco RPCV who I had never met (he was from the year behind me and lived in the south), we had a great dinner (I think it’s not possible to have a bad dinner in New Orleans). She then insisted I see some live jazz, which was a treat. Kristina lives just outside the French Quarter – I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable there alone at night but she radiates such good will that I felt protected in her bubble.
The next morning, we walked to Café du Monde (when in Rome…) and had café au lait and beignets with powdered sugar. And met up with Beryl and Carol! Beryl was a fellow PCRV in the Philippines; I saw her only a couple of times during my service. And Carol is an old friend of hers. When you cast a wide net, you don’t know whom you’re getting – it was great that Beryl came and that she brought a buddy! I had suggested to all comers, and these two were the ones who joined me for, a post-Katrina guided tour. This was a chance to see the hardest-hit areas, to see where the levees broke and the lake overflowed, to understand the engineering that led to this man-made disaster. The damage was not caused by the storm per se but by the surge – there was just nowhere for the water to go, so it flooded the lowest-lying areas, which of course were the poorest.
We saw lots of houses still unoccupied, with the marks made by the authorities, with water lines up to the second story, with sagging foundations. We saw many foundations of houses that were torn down; now the foundations are marked for removal – and many empty lots. One of the most noteworthy houses was that of Fats Domino – he went up to the second floor and the water came up to his head; he survived and the house looks good but he lost priceless mementoes. We also saw the new, higher levees and some of the rebuilding. Most impressive and/or controversial are those built by Brad Pitt’s Make it Right Foundation – long, raised, modern, are they smart construction in an area that might flood again, or are they out of place without stoops and a welcoming look? We also went past the Habitat for Humanity Musicians Village – colorful houses that look like a neighborhood. Should there even be rebuilding in those lowest areas, when the city population seems to have shrunk permanently by 100,000 from its pre-Katrina half a million or so? These are very interesting questions to ponder, especially for an urban studies fan like me. Might there be a job for me here? Why not help people in my own country? Well, let’s start with a five-day build and then see…
No comments:
Post a Comment