Lunch with Joan

This is actually from yesterday, but I did not have a chance to write it in the blog until now.

Yesterday morning another house was added to our list because a elderly neigbor of te church finally was given the keys to her FEMA trailer and was going into her house with out proper protection and a mask. So Jonel, Paul T, Hannah and Chau were asked to start working with her and hopefully make the place safer for her to be there.

The people working at the church were to carry the cooler and water to Joan's (pronounced Jon) house and have lunch with the people working there.

When we got to Joan's house we learned that Joan was so grateful for us helping her that she made, not only the people working on her house, but all of us, a fried chicken lunch with a salad bread and vegitables. She insisted on being able to feed us. She apologized for only feeding us fried chicken, and said that if she had more than a day's notice, she would have made us a real New Orleans meal.

Some of her belongings had been in plastic tubs and were still water logged (and rotting) from the flood after Katrina. Her home was filled with mildew from the months of being sealed up since the flood. You can not believe the stench.

We all were all invited into her FEMA trailer, but knowing we would not all fit in there, we went, a few at a time and helped out selves to the food she prepaired. I don't think we were able to take even half of all the food she offered.

We then went out and sat on the ground in front of the neighbor's FEMA trailer and had lunch while Joan intertained us with stories of her life growing up in the neighborhood and about her take on the politics of New Orleans. What a treat.

Their are so many stories to tell and so much we have learned while being here. -- Paul Hoy