My favorite pic

Taken by Mike, our team leader. I just loved this bear.

A week or so later.....

It's been just over a week since I returned home from New Orleans. It took me a few days to feel somewhat normal after an emotionally and physically draining week in "da Parish". It took me over a week to gather my thoughts on what I had seen and experienced.

The last day we worked, we worked alongside the owner of the house we were gutting. He had cleaned out the house - we were left with the apartment in the back (which had not been touched) and finishing out the house - removing sheetrock, cabinets, etc. As with the owner we met on Tuesday, he was so appreciative of our help - and unwilling to sit idle for a moment while we were working. We could tell that he was not one to ask for help under normal conditions - and these were anything but normal. His neighbor brought over a case of water - to thank us for helping his neighborhood come back. That was especially touching as we knew he didn't really have anything to give - he was still living in his car 7 months after the storm.

Driving back into Birmingham, I couldn't believe how clean the city looks, the grass is so green, the trees are not damaged and flowers are blooming everywhere. No five-foot high trash piles, no streets filled with storm-battered and abandoned houses, buildings, and shopping malls. No lots filled with flood-damaged cars. The monotony of army green and white I lived in for a week must have also numbed my senses, as I was very pleasantly taken aback by the "Rosemary blooms" colored walls in my bedroom & bathroom.

The reactions I've received from people since I got back are similar to those I received when I told people where I was going and why in the weeks leading up to my trip. Some people looked at me like I was crazy, some praised my dedication to this cause and some people just changed the subject. This last reaction is one that I was surprised at before I left - and even more so after I returned. In talking to some of my team-mates, I have found that it's not unusual. I knew there are people out there who are completely disinterested in things that matter - or things that should matter, I just didn't think I knew quite so many. That saddens me.


I've told everyone who has asked about my week in New Orleans, that working for Habitat-NOLA was the best thing I've ever done. It was exhausting, rewarding, heart-breaking and uplifting. We saw the worst that nature can do to a community, the inefficiency of government, but we also saw the best in people. The people who came from all over the country to re-build a great American city, and the people who make that city great.

If you wonder if you should go to New Orleans - I say go. Spend your money there - support the city. Go to the quarter and eat at Cafe Maspero and K-Pauls. Have beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde, drink lots of Abita beer. But also go and see that the city and the people still need our help - and they will for a long time.

The one thing I want to hold on to from this experience is the knowledge that what we think matters doesn't. What matters is the people you care about, the pet that always makes you smile and the realization that no matter how bad you think you have it - someone out there is suffering a lot more.

Thanks to Team Gold 12 - you guys rocked! I can't imagine having a better group of people to work with. You helped make this experience one I will always cherish.

Good news - and recommended reading

Good news from NOLA-Habitat site:

As of Apr 5, 2006 - St. Bernard Recovery Project volunteers have cleaned debris from a total of 952 houses. A milestone 1000th house will get cleaned on Friday!

I found this eyewitness account of a week in "da Parish" through the NOLA-Habitat blog. Wonderful video.

My pictures from NOLA

Ok - so it turns out it's a whole lot easier just to use Kodak Photo Gallery than trying to post all these images to my blog.

Photo Gallery 1
Photo Gallery 2

12 Carat Gold - We're cheap but we're shiny!

Team 12 Gold & our very sweet family from Day 2.

Yellow Lady Banks making a comeback amid all the destruction.

Pics from the week

The two Kevins. This was Saturday night a Madigan's. Little Kevin (that's what they call him) is on the left. My brother is the good looking one on the right. Little Kevin was all pumped up (and drunk) because LSU made it in the final four. Geaux Tigers!

Parrots at my brother's house. They came back right after the storm - Kevin said they were a little shell-shocked, but they were still around. Beautiful birds - and quite funny, especially when the squirrels are around.



A thank you picture from the daughter of the woman who owns the house we did on Tuesday.

Day Four, House Three

So, I really am smiling in this pic - and that really is me behind all of that PPE (that's military speak for Personal protective equipment). I'm standing in front of about 1.25 days worth of "trash" - also known as probably 95% of someone's personal belongings, and all the guts of their house.

It was another long day, this one harder than the first three. I think we've all just reached a point of exhaustion. This was our second day at this house; we made a lot of progress the first day and we finished up today. It's pretty amazing to know that we were able to accomplish that much within two days. At times the task seemed impossible to accomplish - staring at mounds and mounds of unidentifiable personal belongings, sheetrock, insulation and wall to wall carpet (ick!). Today insulation was the bain of my existence. It was like gremlins when they are exposed to light or water - it seemed to mulitpy inexplicably.

Tonight I went to "dinner" with some of my tent mates. They are on a different team than I and their house owner suggested they go to one of the bars up the street from our camp for crawfish. So, I tagged along - always one to sample a little of the local flavor. Their house owner was at the bar (Lehrman's in Chalmette). Very sweet, older gentleman. We couldn't buy a beer in this bar. Mr. Louis had never heard of Abita, but he was more than happy to buy me all the Purple Haze I wanted - even though I'm not even working on his house. Good crawfish, good beer, very nice people. The girls from Idaho even seemed to enjoy themselves ;-)

Not sure what tomorrow has in store - maybe another "fresh" house.

Will try to post more pics today. Mike, our team leader, christened our pile of trash with a bottle of bourbon today - partially for fun, partially to mask the smell of rancid food - I got a fabulous shot!

Day 3, House 3

I haven't really described much about what we've been doing since we reported to work at our first house on Monday. As I mentioned in my previous post, my team (Go, Gold 12!) has had it relatively easy (emotionally, not physically) in that we have not had a "fresh" house until today.

The first house we were assigned was pretty close to finished. All of the contents had been removed, all appliances (including the dreaded refrigerator), kitchen cabinets, carpet, etc. Our job was to take the house down to the studs. All sheetrock - walls & ceilings, light fixtures, everything was to be removed so the house was just a shell. Mission accomplished! We were finished and ready to move on by 2:30 or so. Of course, we didn't get a new house that day (our day finishes around 3:45).

Tuesday we arrived at a new house - and the owner greeted us outside apologizing because she didn't think there was anything left for us to do. Her husband had signed them up for this program (houses are chosen by a lottery system to be cleaned out). Being the resourceful, hard-working, independent woman that so many of us Southern women are, and being out of work since the storm, she got in that house and did it herself. She and her sister cleaned out everything from the house and when we got there yesterday the only thing left was the ceiling in the bathroom and the floors. We had to tear out all the floors (oak), and in some cases, the sub-floor. We were amazed at how much she had accomplished. An amazing woman. I think she had trouble letting us help yesterday - to thank us she and her sister brought us boiled crawfish at our new house. That's what most of the people here are like. That's what people need to know about New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

Today we got our "fresh" house. The family had come back and managed to make a small stack of things they wanted to save in the garage. The site of a home ravaged by 12 feet of water is really not something you can describe. Every single item in the house has been swept up by water, mixed around and then finally settles wherever once the water recedes.

We had not one, not two, but three refrigerators to deal with. Some of the girls on the team are from Boston and they just couldn't understand why anyone would need that many refrigerators. I told them that my brother had three - two of them hold the beer. One has beer for guests and the other has the really good stuff :-) OK, so it's really for all the surplus fish he catches - but the beer story just sounds more authentic New Orleans.

Aside from the mess and the smell (mold, rancid food (7 months rancid), mold, must, mold) - mostly it's just emotionally and physically draining. We are scooping up everything these people owned with shovels and pitch-forks. Every now and then you'll come across a memento worth saving - a baby picture, a photo album from a wedding, a crystal glass that weathered the storm, and sometimes - if you're paying attention - porn. Yes, and not just any porn - a photo album of homemade porn. I have to tell you - my fear on this trip has been encountering a snake, but I had no idea it would be the one eyed variety staring up at me from a flood-stained photo album. Here's the lesson, people - when you are evacuating... take your PETs, take your important papers, and for God's sake - take your porn! The question we had was whether or not to put it in the personal effects pile.

Quotes for the day:
(actually from Monday) - I feel like a need a toothbrush for my nose (thanks, Sue)
Quote 1 from Wednesday:
I really don't like sucking the head.
Quote 2 from Wednesday:
I actually kinda like sucking the head.

A few words for Red Wing:
Puncture resistant soles, my ass!
Yes, Heather has a new piercing - thank god I had my tetanus shot.