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The
Locals: Hurricane Katrina Relief in New Orleans, Louisiana
Hi,
first of all we would like to thank you for taking the time to visit
our site. We would each like to share our experiences with the world
and educate people on the conditions still present in New Orleans.
Our
class, here at Randolph-Macon, traveled on a 20 hour bus ride from
campus, in Ashland, Virginia, to Gretna, Louisiana, where we were
graciously allowed to stay at Gretna United Methodist Church. We
left around 4pm, Saturday, January 7, 2006 and returned around 8pm
Saturday, January 21, 2006. We stayed a total of 2 weeks working
around 8 hours a day, Monday-Friday gutting houses.
We
slept on air mattresses in the church and cooked some of our own
meals. The church cooked for us some nights and we also got to experience
some of the fine foods New Orleans had to offer. These foods included
gumbo, red beans and rice, mufalattas, po-boys, and jambalaya. There
were 6 showers (3 boys and 3 girls) for 33 people to go through
in a matter of about 2 hours once the work day was over and there
was something scheduled for the evening. Military style showers
seemed to be the consensus among the girls who quickly organized
an order that seemed to work, while the guys did something different
almost all the time.
We
also got to tour and experience the French Quarter, as well as Bourbon
Street. It was a fun day and an exciting night. The last Thursday
we were there we took the morning off from work and we were recognized
at a city council meeting. We finished our work load on Friday.
When it was all said and done we completed 15 houses saving the
city of New Orleans over $42,000 and impacting countless lives.