Greetings from Camp Premier
This was my 2nd day of work in Chalmette. I got to New Orleans on Saturday and checked in to Camp Premier on Sunday. There's quite a lot about this experience worth noting - and I'll try to do that later when I'm not so exhausted, but I have a few things I wanted to go ahead and say.
First, driving into New Orleans - even having been forwarned - I was shocked and saddened by the state of East New Orleans. I swear it looks like most things have not been touched since Katrina hit. Apartment complexes, shopping malls, neighborhoods completely abandoned. On Sunday my brother and I drove down to the Quarter for lunch. The route we drove took us by the Superdome and down Canal Street. I think Kevin was trying to expose me to small doses of what I would be seeing once I got to St. Bernard. The most upsetting thing for me was the Saenger Theatre. Like the rest of the city, it looks like a victim of war - and nobody is stepping in to rebuild after the battles are done.
Sunday afternoon I picked up a fellow Habitat volunteer from the airport. She's from New Jersey and has never been to New Orleans before. So, I tried to give her the overview of what things "should" look like as opposed to what she was seeing. I was not too surprised that she came here to help - she volunteers for her local Habitat chapter. I was, however, surprised after I met a lot of other people here who have never been to New Orleans - or anywhere on the Gulf Coast (most never to the South). They have no connection to this city and yet they wanted to come here and give their time and their energy (lots of energy) to help people they have never met, and in some cases never will.
I tried really hard to prepare myself for Chalmette. I watched a lot of CNN - a lot of Anderson Cooper. My fear was that I would not be able to handle this emotionally. I couldn't sit through any of the stories on Anderson Cooper without crying. Somehow, I made it all the way to Camp Premier with dry eyes. Things didn't really hit me until we made our way into the neighborhood that we would be working in on Monday morning. To see an entire neighborhood destroyed - and, with the exception of a FEMA trailer here and there, uninhabited is quite a sobering experience. Knowing that this is just one of many neighborhoods is just depressing.
After two days in the neighborhood I realized that it didn't take very long to become numb to what you are really seeing. Of course, my team hasn't had the full experience yet. We have gone into two houses so far - and both were cleaned out, we were just finishing them out - taking them down to the studs. Standing in these empty homes - it's easy to forget how they got in this condition - and then it hits me and I take a deep breath, wait for my eyes to dry and I go back to prying up floorboards or punching down ceilings, anything to channel the frustration and the sadness - and the anger - at what these people have gone through and are still going through 7 months later.
First, driving into New Orleans - even having been forwarned - I was shocked and saddened by the state of East New Orleans. I swear it looks like most things have not been touched since Katrina hit. Apartment complexes, shopping malls, neighborhoods completely abandoned. On Sunday my brother and I drove down to the Quarter for lunch. The route we drove took us by the Superdome and down Canal Street. I think Kevin was trying to expose me to small doses of what I would be seeing once I got to St. Bernard. The most upsetting thing for me was the Saenger Theatre. Like the rest of the city, it looks like a victim of war - and nobody is stepping in to rebuild after the battles are done.
Sunday afternoon I picked up a fellow Habitat volunteer from the airport. She's from New Jersey and has never been to New Orleans before. So, I tried to give her the overview of what things "should" look like as opposed to what she was seeing. I was not too surprised that she came here to help - she volunteers for her local Habitat chapter. I was, however, surprised after I met a lot of other people here who have never been to New Orleans - or anywhere on the Gulf Coast (most never to the South). They have no connection to this city and yet they wanted to come here and give their time and their energy (lots of energy) to help people they have never met, and in some cases never will.
I tried really hard to prepare myself for Chalmette. I watched a lot of CNN - a lot of Anderson Cooper. My fear was that I would not be able to handle this emotionally. I couldn't sit through any of the stories on Anderson Cooper without crying. Somehow, I made it all the way to Camp Premier with dry eyes. Things didn't really hit me until we made our way into the neighborhood that we would be working in on Monday morning. To see an entire neighborhood destroyed - and, with the exception of a FEMA trailer here and there, uninhabited is quite a sobering experience. Knowing that this is just one of many neighborhoods is just depressing.
After two days in the neighborhood I realized that it didn't take very long to become numb to what you are really seeing. Of course, my team hasn't had the full experience yet. We have gone into two houses so far - and both were cleaned out, we were just finishing them out - taking them down to the studs. Standing in these empty homes - it's easy to forget how they got in this condition - and then it hits me and I take a deep breath, wait for my eyes to dry and I go back to prying up floorboards or punching down ceilings, anything to channel the frustration and the sadness - and the anger - at what these people have gone through and are still going through 7 months later.
posted by Gulf Coast Girl at 6:43 PM
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