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'.
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