second day

Today we continued working at the Food kitchen with Just the Right Attitude and I will say it is very fun working with these individuals. Today we continued packing and for us guys, taking bags and at times boxes to individuals cars. Of course we automatically helped out the women. It was awesome talking to the locals because when ever they seem to be so upbeat, even though they are going through a lot. I guess they have to keep a positive attitude in a time when everything else seems to be going bad. Also, the locals are very grateful. There was this one woman that kept telling me "I hope you enjoy New Orleans because that is important". Also, many of us played this one game called Mad Gab. The whole objective of the game is to try to get the phrase, name, movie or whatever from this sentence that makes no sense. An example is Hire Or Myth. The actual word is supposed to be Aerosmith. It is a pretty fun game. Things I forgot to mentioned yesterday are we are staying at the Carrollton Christan Methodist Church, which is located on South Carrollton. In addition, yesterday we had reflections and I did this one activity called I am From..... The whole point of this activity was for my group to get to know each other and kind of where we come from. I will say it was pretty successful, however, I tried to get the group to reflect about the day and that was not as successful. More stuff I forgot to mentioned, the four individuals that are in charge of this whole project are Alice, Valerie, Sidney, and Fatima. They are all pretty cool individuals and it seems they are on top of things. I do applauded them for everything that they have done. I know there are some things that are working and while other things are not working but they still do not give up. I do admire them.
The individuals on this trip are all pretty cool. I got to meet a lot of them and I am working on their names. Some individuals I talk to more than others and some I got their names down, while others I have to continue to ask them for their name. Everyone brings a different experience, everyone brings a different type of energy and everyone is making this trip work some how. I think there will be times when some of us will have to step up to the plate and take charge of something because the 4 organizers are always busy. So far I am having a lot of fun and I hope that will continues. Until tomorrow.

Ebelio

"No good deed goes unpunished."

That quote is printed on my high school Key Club sweater. I know, what a cliche; but I'll admit, I was the one that found the quote and posted it on the 150 sweaters that we distributed. I thought I knew what that statement meant, but now, after being immersed within a totally different culture and situation, I realize the extent of my ignorance. New Orleans, is fundamentally different from my home and the hardest part of this trip is just becoming one with the community. You really don't understand the roots of the problems until you are able to see through the eyes of the people that lived through the disaster, and have chosen to stick around for the long haul to rebuild the beautiful city. And when I say beautiful, I must say, it is GORGEOUS. The architecture is just mystifying and I'm in awe of the historical sites that nonchalantly stand admist the churches and houses. But back to my point, I realize that I need to bring myself out of my own little bubble and try not to asses New Orleans with my perspective.

For example, my group has for the past two days helped with logistics, running errands, sweeping, things of that sort, and at first it was really hard to be satisfied with these tasks. Not because I was upset with the work, but because I felt that it wasn't really helping with the whole "Katrina Relief." That is the problem. The preconceived notion of what help is, and the context of help within New Orleans. I realized after much discussion and Q&A sessions that everything we do is for a reason. Every little bit helps. And sometimes, more than just the actions, the mentality, spirit, and intentions are what help drive the efforts. Don't question the worth of your task but instead, ask yourself why you are doing that task. You are doing it for a reason, the meaning may take a little bit longer than you may realize, but I promise there is a bigger idea behind everything we do.

This blog is utterly uncohesive, but it is pretty late, I am tired, and I have given up my dreams of being an English major, so with that these are all my personal opinions and thoughts that have been spilling over the past few days. I'm still unsure of how I feel, how I fit in, and how much I can help but I'm completely sure of one thing: with the compilation of little actions, good intentions, and insuppressible spirit, the 87 students, leaders, and associates will help change New Orleans. No doubt.

Natasha Hwangpo

So! It is the end of two work days here in New Orleans, Louisiana, and so far it has been pretty interesting. I have been working with Ebelio, Genna, Krystine, Amanda, and Angela, and I think we are a great group-- everyone seems really cool and I am excited to get to know them some more over the remainder of the trip. We have been working in conjunction with groups five and seven at a food bank / mobile kitchen called Just the Right Attitude. So far, we have helped put together food packages containing mostly non-perishable items such as pasta, canned soup, canned vegetables, peanut butter, etc. for the local displaced community. We have also helped to prepare lunch (yesterday was spaghetti and meatballs, today was rice with sausage and beans!) for those in need of a warm meal. It is fascinating (and rather sad) to see the families who come to get them, especially ones with young children and especially since so many of them are senior citizens. The people who run JTRA are very friendly and have wonderful attitudes towards their job-- apparently some of the food that the kitchen runs on is provided out of pocket by the people, according to one of the women we worked with today. I think that is pretty admirable, and I am impressed with the self-sacrifice and enthusiasm with which they serve.

I am looking forward to the rest of the trip, especially the gutting portion, and meeting the affected community members-- that is, working with POC and at the historical home. At the team leader meeting, the other team leaders shared their safety concerns, and it has made me feel a bit worried about the future activities. As much as I want us to get a first hand look at the situation here, I want us all to be able to get home safely too!

Hope I will get a chance to blog again!

-Christa

Empathy

It's strange how much significance the work we are doing here in New Orleans has taken for me, personally, just days into the trip. At first, that doesn't seem surprising. After all, it seems to be a fairly common experience. People oftentimes report that only when they embark on particular service projects do they begin to appreciate the seriousness of their work. Normal as it seems, though, I began to think about it a lot more today. Why does the condition of the people in New Orleans matter so much to me now? After all, I was well aware of their plight prior to the trip, in fact, even before my decision to do anything Magnolia Project-related. The conclusion I came to was this - In order to empathize with people, we have to be able to put ourselves in their position. Once we can imagine ourselves undergoing the same harsh experiences that they have had to encounter, we understand that their treatment is unjust and thus are mobilized to do what we can to ensure that it does not occur again in the future. This is why two particular experiences - the man discussing how he was kicked out of the projects in which he was living, and the talk given to me by two restaurant owners who were left with nothing following the storm - were the most meaningful for me personally. I came to appreciate the extent of their suffering because they personally relayed their thoughts and stories to me.

Upon coming to this conclusion I realized that (in my mind, at least) it highlighted why our work here was so important. Even if the physical work we do here doesn't do an incredible amount towards eradicating the horrific experiences of New Orleans residents over the past year and a half (a conclusion which is obviously, far from given) the impact that our immersion in the area will have on our consciousness, that is, our awareness, makes the experience well worth it. We will return home not only ourselves appreciating the extent of the damage done in New Orleans (as opposed to the way it is commonly portrayed in the news media), but we will be motivated to inform others of the situation. We will also be better equipped to combat our complacency towards other conditions of human suffering. Armed with the knowledge that we don't care (or care not nearly enough) only because our contact with those events is not immediate, we will surely, be cognizant of the fact that we can put ourselves in the position to care.

Simply put, we can make it matter to us. That is, ultimately, the most comforting thing of all.

Hirsh Jain

Today- Thursday

Hi!!!

I'm Breeanna and the Magnolia Project has been amazing so far. Today was the first day we did our work with POC. We started by gutting a house. This was a whole experience in itself. You get a hammer, a shovel, or a pole- basically any thing and you need to take down all what is inside the house. It was actually really fun. What I enjoyed the most was how our team worked together; we supported each other all the way. It is an amazing thing to see people grow together when working for a common goal. You guys are great! There are many little stories that each of us has. Hersh fell through the floor, got up, rested, and then went back to work. People found sentimental items in the house that made the time even more touching- it felt as though we were destroying memories- a family lived here. What did they have to go through? Where were they now? How did this happen? This trip has changed the way I view the situation. The leavy tour yesterday thought me so much. The biggest question in my mind now is where do we go from here? It seems so hard and confusing. There are so many points of views and failed plans; there are not enough resources- people or funds and those resources that there are are not organized.
Along with the service and learning there are many fun experiences. Our van got caught in the mud this afternoon driving around the 9th ward. We had to get out and push. Just walking around and talking to the local residents was not only informational, but fun. We got to hear people's stories. One guy was a drug dealer- there was nothing left for him he said and this was the only alternative. Another man was visiting the green plot of land where his house had been. He is not coming back- "what is there to come back for" he asked. His family is scattered with no way to return and they have no house to retun to. Some people were out cleaning up their yard because if they didn't then they were going to be fined. The state has offered many people 40 to 50 thousand $ to buy their land, but this is their home- many many generations grew up here. I personally love simply walking around and talking to people. It has blown my mind to think that the leavy breaking could have been a conspiracy.
Everyone on this trip is very inspirational and nice. I am building friendships and growing with a dedicated, fun group of people. If anyone is reading this and thinking about going on this trip I say- GO! It will blow your mind! :):) sorry this was so scattered. Have a great evening- I have to go try to cover the exit sign that is too bright to go to sleep under.

Genevieve's thoughts

Hi – I’m Genevieve, designated driver for my small group. Yesterday was pretty tiring – I made the sketchy choice of walking to BART at 4:30 am and taking that to SFO rather than taking Bayport or some other shuttle. Luckily, Berkeley was kind to me and I made it safely to BART after an actually very pleasant walk along a heavily policed and thus deserted Telegraph. Made it to the airport, met with the group, boarded the plane! Read a book for both flights, met some of the people in the group, adjusted my sitting position a million times, etc. At this point I was still a little unsure about what we were actually going to do -- I guess I just knew I was going to do it.

We were delayed a bit in Houston, but it wasn’t a horrible wait. The woman on the plane next to me on the flight to New Orleans was far more wiped out than I was, so I felt better about my own tiredness. I craned my neck to get a glimpse of the city as we landed – we came down over Lake Pontchartrain (go me for knowing!) all marshy at the edges, with a long bridge going across. Wasn’t able to get much of a view of the city until later. We spent some time renting a bunch of vans at the New Orleans, and I got geared up to drive the van. The weather was very balmy and cloudy. It reminded me of Hawaii, the only other tropical place I’ve been.

---break in writing: dinner---

WELL! The weather was very balmy and cloudy, and so it remained for the rest of the night. I got us only a little lost on the way to the church that has kindly put us up, but another van in the caravan had a better idea of where to go so we were soon on track again. As we drove I could see some damage on some homes, and a lot of deserted buildings and boarded up restaurants, but otherwise nothing too drastic. The church is near the Mississippi, but I haven’t seen the actual river yet. Hopefully I’ll get to walk down there one of these evenings or at least on Sunday (free day!). Anyways the street the church is on is very pretty and the smell seriously reminded me of the smell at the beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride – I kid you not – they got it right. Ha! Gnarly (in both senses of the word) trees just span across the street and the architecture of the houses is distinctly New Orleans, as far as my stereotype of what it should be tells me – all porches and pillars and rod iron. It’s not absolutely gorgeous or pristine, but it is very lovely and old and overgrown.

This is getting long.

I had my first taste of the accent when we got some food down the street (walked) at the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen (LPK, guys!), and it was like awwwwwwww they’re all southernnnnn. The food was good, too, though not much different from anything in California : )

No fireflies…

Or old men playing the banjo on their porches.

Or pirates.

Yet.

There are 87 of us, but some still only made it to the church by 11pm, when the rest of us were getting ready for bed (floor of the large room upstairs in the rec hall). Others who took a red eye only got in this morning. Fun fact: there is an interesting adjoining room to the sleeping hall that is full of all kinds of chairs. Full as in a floor to ceiling jungle of old fashioned wooden and metal chairs. I thought it was cool, anyways.

The four girls who are putting this entire trip on are absolutely amazing – I cannot imagine the amount of work they have put into getting us all here, the lack of sleep they are dealing with, the constant questions from everyone, etc. Everyone is pretty compliant and ready to go, though, so I’d say we’re on a good track, for so large a group.

This morning my group and two others drove to a food bank, Just The Right Attitude. To get there we drove on a highway that gave us a better view of the city – the Superdome, some skyscrapers, a pretty church, etc. I didn’t really know what to expect given the name of the place, except that it would be a positive environment. I expected a sort of soup kitchen near other businesses, but it was actually housed in a small building in a more remote part of the city. At this time it was still balmy but the sun was out.

The folks at JTRA were very friendly from the start – introducing themselves and getting us right to work. A couple of us got hairnets and started making the lunch that they give away (spaghetti and meatballs – I had never seen a pot so large in a place so small – it was a CAULDRON full of a THOUSAND meatballs!!!) The rest of us got to work in a massive assembly line stuffing paper bags and boxes with canned and dry foods. I am now an expert double-bagger. Others are expert fit-the-spaghetti-in-the-box-ers. People lined up outside and started picking up their allotted foodstuffs. Later in the day another line sprang up for the lunches. A bus full of senior citizens came, and they all got a second meal as well for dinner.

I didn’t have much contact with the folks picking up the food, me being more on the assembly line inside, and I didn’t have a lot of chance to really talk to the JTRA workers. We will be working there until next Tuesday, when my group of seven will start working with a different organization. I assume in this time we’ll get to know everyone a lot better!

I still haven’t seen any real flood damage, though one of the groups today went on a tour of the levees in the city – the saw levees in the lower, middle, and upper class areas, and said the differences were just astounding. Other groups worked at an elementary school, and others worked cleaning up a historical home. I could write more but I think this is enough for now : )

Later

---Genna

First Day

Today was our first day at working. My group and two other group are working with this one group called Just the Right Attitude or JTRA and they are pretty much a grassroots organization that feeds the locals. In addition to that they put together can foods in other stuff in paper bags or boxes and distribute it to the locals as well. All they have to do is show their ID and sign in to receive the stuff. I also was able to talk to my peers. They all are pretty down to earth and it seems like everyone have a positive attitude. The other groups went to other sites. I believe two groups are working in a school playground, 4 groups are working with POC, and I am not certain where the other groups are working at. I will say the people who are in charge of JTRA are very nice individuals. One of them gave us some Chunck Monkey milk shakes and those were so good. Anyways, that is what happened our first day of working.

Ebelio