After 12 hours of sleep, I feel somewhat human again. I have been relishing the quiet and comfort of home with a new appreciation for HAVING a home. It feels luxurious to sleep in a comfortable bed not surrounded by dust and debris.
I also have a deeper appreciation for folks in the building trades. We met carpenters, electricians, and other generally handy people who were spending weeks donating their skills to the effort. Our group's combined decades of post-secondary education didn't help us when it came to hanging dry wall or installing HVAC units.
After seeing the "before" pictures again from the ramp-building, I feel like we did accomplish something, but I hope this will be just the beginning of a longer partnership with those affected by the disaster. It's inspiring and humbling to see the ongoing generosity and everyday heroism of folks like Pete, Roy, Mike, and Derek.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
re-entry
We returned safely and exhausted on Friday a little after noon, and headed for our respective homes quickly.
It's always a challenge to re-enter "regular life" after an experience like this. I find myself replaying a lot of the week in my mind as I go about getting back into the routine at home. I miss the rest of the gang, and wonder what everyone is up to now that we're all back to our very different lives.
I've looked into the Turkey Creek Community Initiative some more, and wanted to offer the link for those of you interested in who we connected with while we were there.
http://www.turkey-creek.org/
I especially appreciate the holistic approach to rebuilding, that takes into account environmental concerns as well as human concerns; that is working on policy advocacy and relational work with the folks who are affected by the policies. I hope that this week was just the beginning of a strong and meaningful partnership. I know we have a lot to learn from the folks at Turkey Creek, and I'm willing to bet that as time goes on we will discover we also have much to offer.
It's always a challenge to re-enter "regular life" after an experience like this. I find myself replaying a lot of the week in my mind as I go about getting back into the routine at home. I miss the rest of the gang, and wonder what everyone is up to now that we're all back to our very different lives.
I've looked into the Turkey Creek Community Initiative some more, and wanted to offer the link for those of you interested in who we connected with while we were there.
http://www.turkey-creek.org/
I especially appreciate the holistic approach to rebuilding, that takes into account environmental concerns as well as human concerns; that is working on policy advocacy and relational work with the folks who are affected by the policies. I hope that this week was just the beginning of a strong and meaningful partnership. I know we have a lot to learn from the folks at Turkey Creek, and I'm willing to bet that as time goes on we will discover we also have much to offer.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Thursday action
Thursday shone bright and clear and the gang was up and ready to go quickly -- it was our first day to our work site by 9am. This time, back to Pearlington to finish the ramps and patio we started on Monday. The additional dirt we needed was delivered just as we arrived -- hurray!
Determining strategy was a bit of a challenge, so much of the day was spent like this, with the main question being -- which dirt do we move where to get the right grade and right width? It sounds so simple when they tell you the job...
But the work went on...
After lunch, we split off and one crew went to another house in Pearlington to lay insulation in the attic. Christa, Nikki, Parisa, Tracey and Elise had this hot, sweaty, itchy job.
And at the end of the day, a victory on Dogwood Drive, with completion of the ramps!
Back to camp to clean up and pack up, then dinner. We're heading to a Motel close to the airport to catch our 6:30am flight tomorrow.
Determining strategy was a bit of a challenge, so much of the day was spent like this, with the main question being -- which dirt do we move where to get the right grade and right width? It sounds so simple when they tell you the job...
But the work went on...
After lunch, we split off and one crew went to another house in Pearlington to lay insulation in the attic. Christa, Nikki, Parisa, Tracey and Elise had this hot, sweaty, itchy job.
And at the end of the day, a victory on Dogwood Drive, with completion of the ramps!
Back to camp to clean up and pack up, then dinner. We're heading to a Motel close to the airport to catch our 6:30am flight tomorrow.
Watery Wednesday
Did you think we got lost at Mardi Gras?
It has been such an action-packed two days that there was no time to blog!
Wednesday began very rainy and therefore a little slowly as we tried to find work for unskilled folks that could be done in the rain. Turns out that trash pickup is it! One crew headed back to Pearlington and picked up construction refuse from houses that had been worked on earlier, the other headed to Turkey Creek (part of Gulfport) to clean up both sides of Rippy Road.
The skies cleared at about 3pm, just as both teams were finishing our work. So we met up in Gulfport and headed down to see what the beach looks like. Turns out it's beautiful!
After this little frolick, we took a tour along Highway 90, the coastal road between Gulfport and Biloxi. Since your main blog photographer was driving, there aren't photos of this amazing journey. Everything -- we mean EVERYTHING is devastated. Huge buildings completely blown out, palm trees uprooted, markers for house slabs because it's not obvious where they are. Folks were comparing it to after Hiroshima, or the predictions of classic movies like The Day After. Of course, what's being rebuilt quickly? The big casinos.
We drove around Biloxi a bit and were amazed at how completely wiped out it was -- still. Very little rebuilding of homes. There was one option for local eating in East Biloxi -- none in West, except for chains. If you need a Waffle, MIssissippi is the place to come. You can't say "Waffle House" in the time it takes to get from one to another.
After dinner, we headed back to Turkey Creek to join the Winchester group again. We watched a locally-made documentary about the effect of Katrina on Mississippi, then heard more from Derek Evans. He's a powerful speaker, and very well-informed -- we're thinking we want to host him as a speaker at home, and his organization is definitely going to be the recipient of the rest of the Chocolate Auction and special offering money. There's so much to tell that it's hard to figure out how to summarize!
One of the most inspiring things here is the fact that everyone running the relief and recovery operations are long-term volunteers. No one is getting paid to do this, It's really mind-boggling that the whole relief/recovery effort has been done by volunteers.
It has been such an action-packed two days that there was no time to blog!
Wednesday began very rainy and therefore a little slowly as we tried to find work for unskilled folks that could be done in the rain. Turns out that trash pickup is it! One crew headed back to Pearlington and picked up construction refuse from houses that had been worked on earlier, the other headed to Turkey Creek (part of Gulfport) to clean up both sides of Rippy Road.
The skies cleared at about 3pm, just as both teams were finishing our work. So we met up in Gulfport and headed down to see what the beach looks like. Turns out it's beautiful!
After this little frolick, we took a tour along Highway 90, the coastal road between Gulfport and Biloxi. Since your main blog photographer was driving, there aren't photos of this amazing journey. Everything -- we mean EVERYTHING is devastated. Huge buildings completely blown out, palm trees uprooted, markers for house slabs because it's not obvious where they are. Folks were comparing it to after Hiroshima, or the predictions of classic movies like The Day After. Of course, what's being rebuilt quickly? The big casinos.
We drove around Biloxi a bit and were amazed at how completely wiped out it was -- still. Very little rebuilding of homes. There was one option for local eating in East Biloxi -- none in West, except for chains. If you need a Waffle, MIssissippi is the place to come. You can't say "Waffle House" in the time it takes to get from one to another.
After dinner, we headed back to Turkey Creek to join the Winchester group again. We watched a locally-made documentary about the effect of Katrina on Mississippi, then heard more from Derek Evans. He's a powerful speaker, and very well-informed -- we're thinking we want to host him as a speaker at home, and his organization is definitely going to be the recipient of the rest of the Chocolate Auction and special offering money. There's so much to tell that it's hard to figure out how to summarize!
One of the most inspiring things here is the fact that everyone running the relief and recovery operations are long-term volunteers. No one is getting paid to do this, It's really mind-boggling that the whole relief/recovery effort has been done by volunteers.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
sunset on mardi gras
We began our day in Metairie, with a parade of huge floats. Got lots of beads. Heard lots of the same songs over and over. It was a good chance to get some got pics of the group, though, so here, except for Andy and Parisa, is our crew in all their glory:
Max and Miles, this one is for you:
We had a hankering for the real New Orleans after Metairie, so we headed uptown to see what we could see. We caught the end of yet another parade, and after just a few smacks to the noggin with the flying beads off the floats, made our way to the French Quarter.
Max and Miles, this one is for you:
We had a hankering for the real New Orleans after Metairie, so we headed uptown to see what we could see. We caught the end of yet another parade, and after just a few smacks to the noggin with the flying beads off the floats, made our way to the French Quarter.
mardi gras: a motrin kind of day
Here are some additional photos from Monday's work project:
Wishing for a wheelbarrow? Put it together yourself!
Nikki was the champ with the wheelbarrow, pushing loads of dirt that must have weighed three times what she does. All of our youth are great with a shovel, a pick, and a wheelbarrow. Don't tell B&G!
It was much warmer last night, and is definitely warmer today. We passed on an invitation from the camp folks to leave with them at 4am to stake out space on a parade route in New Orleans. They strongly recommended that we leave at 6am; we strongly declined again. We're taking our chances with leaving at about 9am.
Elise woke up this morning and proclaimed it "a motrin kind of day."
We didn't mention that red clay dirt is really heavy, and our job yesterday was moving it around and trying to get it to comply with plans (and appropriate slope) for a wheelchair ramp and a level play area (sort of a landing between spans of the ramp) for Alexis, the 9 year old with spina bifida who will call this house home. The hope is that work will be done by the end of this week so the family can move out of their FEMA trailer and into their new home next week.
Last night we went to Gulfport with the Cantabridgians and joined the impossibly large Winchester group (60 of them!) for dinner and a presentation from Jinnie Tribulsi, the local volunteer coordinator, and Derek Evans, a local resident (who lived in Roxbury for years) who started the Turkey Creek Community Initiative, and advocacy organization that has recently branched out to house and dispatch volunteers.
As Jinnie put it, there were two disasters that happened with Katrina: a natural disaster, which hit Mississippi, and a civil engineering disaster (the breach of the levees), which hit New Orleans. Folks in MIssissippi have become embittered at the level of attention New Orleans has gotten, and have been quite forgotten by much of the rebuilding efforts. It's clear that very little rebuilding has been accomplished here-- but there are ample brand-new casinos lining I-10. We'll be hearing more about that tonight and helping with some of the advocacy work later in the week (in preparation for a hearing that Congresswoman Maxine Waters will be holding on Friday to ask for some accountability for the spending of federal relief money).
Today, we're off to see what we can of Mardi Gras, and then back to Gulfport for some more learnin'.
Wishing for a wheelbarrow? Put it together yourself!
Nikki was the champ with the wheelbarrow, pushing loads of dirt that must have weighed three times what she does. All of our youth are great with a shovel, a pick, and a wheelbarrow. Don't tell B&G!
It was much warmer last night, and is definitely warmer today. We passed on an invitation from the camp folks to leave with them at 4am to stake out space on a parade route in New Orleans. They strongly recommended that we leave at 6am; we strongly declined again. We're taking our chances with leaving at about 9am.
Elise woke up this morning and proclaimed it "a motrin kind of day."
We didn't mention that red clay dirt is really heavy, and our job yesterday was moving it around and trying to get it to comply with plans (and appropriate slope) for a wheelchair ramp and a level play area (sort of a landing between spans of the ramp) for Alexis, the 9 year old with spina bifida who will call this house home. The hope is that work will be done by the end of this week so the family can move out of their FEMA trailer and into their new home next week.
Last night we went to Gulfport with the Cantabridgians and joined the impossibly large Winchester group (60 of them!) for dinner and a presentation from Jinnie Tribulsi, the local volunteer coordinator, and Derek Evans, a local resident (who lived in Roxbury for years) who started the Turkey Creek Community Initiative, and advocacy organization that has recently branched out to house and dispatch volunteers.
As Jinnie put it, there were two disasters that happened with Katrina: a natural disaster, which hit Mississippi, and a civil engineering disaster (the breach of the levees), which hit New Orleans. Folks in MIssissippi have become embittered at the level of attention New Orleans has gotten, and have been quite forgotten by much of the rebuilding efforts. It's clear that very little rebuilding has been accomplished here-- but there are ample brand-new casinos lining I-10. We'll be hearing more about that tonight and helping with some of the advocacy work later in the week (in preparation for a hearing that Congresswoman Maxine Waters will be holding on Friday to ask for some accountability for the spending of federal relief money).
Today, we're off to see what we can of Mardi Gras, and then back to Gulfport for some more learnin'.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Lundi Gras
The world of Unitarian Universalism is small indeed, but mighty! We were on the same flight from Newark as Gini Courter, the UUA moderator. Meeting her at the airport and getting a shot of her inspiring energy was a great encouragement after a long day of travel!
We finally arrived at Camp Coastal and settled into our bunks by about 1am. We didn't find out until the morning that this is what our cabins look like:
It was a cold, cold night. So we were happy to make it to the dining tent in the morning, where a gigantic heater and lots more people helped us warm up.
"Success is not measured by the goals achieved, but by the obsticles overcome while achieving the goals" Booker T Washington. That statement is printed in the Camp Coastal office. Below it hang 10 clipboards, each holding the paperwork for a home rebuilding project that the Camp is involved with. There's a photo on the coversheet of each, showing the property that is being worked on. Clipped underneath each clipboard are index cards with tasks left to complete on each project. Most of the projets are in Pearlington, which is only a few miles inland from the Gulf. We are working on a project to build an access ramp for a wheelchair, and driveway, and a patio. We worked with the group from First Parish in Cambridge. We spent the morning getting organized, buying additional tools at the Home Depot in Waveland, and figuring out what 30 or so adults and youth need to do. By the end of the day we had most of the driveway and access ramp, and all of the patio built up and graded.
(this post was by Andy and Parisa)
We finally arrived at Camp Coastal and settled into our bunks by about 1am. We didn't find out until the morning that this is what our cabins look like:
It was a cold, cold night. So we were happy to make it to the dining tent in the morning, where a gigantic heater and lots more people helped us warm up.
"Success is not measured by the goals achieved, but by the obsticles overcome while achieving the goals" Booker T Washington. That statement is printed in the Camp Coastal office. Below it hang 10 clipboards, each holding the paperwork for a home rebuilding project that the Camp is involved with. There's a photo on the coversheet of each, showing the property that is being worked on. Clipped underneath each clipboard are index cards with tasks left to complete on each project. Most of the projets are in Pearlington, which is only a few miles inland from the Gulf. We are working on a project to build an access ramp for a wheelchair, and driveway, and a patio. We worked with the group from First Parish in Cambridge. We spent the morning getting organized, buying additional tools at the Home Depot in Waveland, and figuring out what 30 or so adults and youth need to do. By the end of the day we had most of the driveway and access ramp, and all of the patio built up and graded.
(this post was by Andy and Parisa)
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Here's the crew just before boarding our flight out of Boston. We made it on to the plane and all the way to Newark, where we've got a layover before the flight to New Orleans. It's looking like there is a lot we'll be playing by ear as we make our way through the week. We're all in the slow process of letting go of the rest of life to arrive at our destination: remembering things that should have gone in the mail, tv shows that needed to be dv-r'ed, things we meant to pack and didn't. By the time we arrive in New Orleans, we will have made our peace with it, and will be ready to face the next challenge: making the journey to Kiln, Mississippi in our rental vans.
Our final destination in Camp Coastal Outpost: www.campcoastaloutpost.org
We're only a third of the way there, Christa points out, and all is well so far!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
We'll build a land
Twelve of us from First Parish in Milton will leave for our first trip to be part of relief efforts on the Gulf Coast on Sunday February 18th. It's a big step for our congregation to make a trip away as part of our social action efforts, and a big step for many of us who are going to enter into unknown territory, to do work we may not feel qualified to do, and to be with fellow church members we may not know all that well. You could say it's a leap of faith.
On Sunday, we read a responsive commissioning during worship, a sign that we share the same mission whether we are at home or away, and that this in particular is a mission that takes the values we celebrate in worship on Sunday into the world far from our doors. It went like this:
The twelve of us have been preparing to make this journey slowly over the last several months. I think it's just setting in for most of us that we will actually be in Kiln, Mississippi at this time next week. This blog will be a place where we can post our reflections as we make the trip, and share photos with the congregation during the week we are away. We hope this can be an interactive experience, with readers posting questions and responses to our posts -- either during or after our trip.
On Sunday, we read a responsive commissioning during worship, a sign that we share the same mission whether we are at home or away, and that this in particular is a mission that takes the values we celebrate in worship on Sunday into the world far from our doors. It went like this:
| All: Our faith calls us to witness by our actions the | |
| promise of building a just, peaceful, compassionate world. | |
| We do this as individuals in our daily lives when and where we can. | |
| We do this as a community by sending forth those among us | |
| who are willing and able, to bear witness to the struggles | |
| of our brothers and sisters, and to offer solidarity | |
| through their presence and action. Congregation: | |
We send you forth with our blessings and support, | |
| eager to hear of your journey and expand our growing faith | |
| through your action. Gulf Coast Team: | |
We go forth lifted up by the support of this community, | |
| mindful of the fact that we represent First Parish in Milton | |
| and our free faith as we make this journey. | |
| We commit to returning to share our journey with you, | |
| and extending our new understandings to the work we do in this community. |
The twelve of us have been preparing to make this journey slowly over the last several months. I think it's just setting in for most of us that we will actually be in Kiln, Mississippi at this time next week. This blog will be a place where we can post our reflections as we make the trip, and share photos with the congregation during the week we are away. We hope this can be an interactive experience, with readers posting questions and responses to our posts -- either during or after our trip.
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