Week in Review

I am on the 18 hour return trip from New Orleans after successfully co-leading a Interdisciplinary Studies class on a service trip. We were able to help rebuild the lower 9th Ward and surrounding communities as they continue to recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. It was amazing to see how much is still needed to be done as a result of a storm that impacted the area over five years ago. People are still paying rent and mortgages on properties that half a decade later are still uninhabitable. This fact seems shocking, and at first glance it is, but one needs to understand the complexity of the situation and the sheer damage caused to the infrastructure of the city, its resources, and to some degree the will of the people.

The 11 members of the class worked extremely hard for five days to beautify the area, restore the coastline, and repair damaged houses. The repairs to the homes generally consisted of dry walling, taping, and mudding. Although, the group did not get the “pleasure” of sanding. The knowledge gained and skills learned will pay dividends for a lifetime. More importantly, the appreciation for life and the ability to better understand and communicate with people of all types will be of great value to the group. I could see dispositions change over the course of the trip and am confident that the members of the class will take the lessons learned and apply them the rest of their lifetimes.

A rough estimate would be collectively the class provided 400 hours of service during the trip. We were able to plant hundreds of trees and made the internal framework of a house look more like a home. However, the 400 hours of donated time was only a very small fraction of what is needed as part of the rebuilding process. We worked tirelessly on the house and it now looks like something someone could inhabit, but there is still a lot of work to be done. The work was exhausting and required great detail, but the personal gratification received from living out the college’s mission and our own internal desires was worth every bead of sweat, every sore muscle, and in some cases even a few drops of blood.

I noted the excitement students felt as they prepared to go home, but this excitement soon diminished as it was realized that they were leaving NOLA. Some will be back (trips are already being planned), but others will never return to the city. This ambiguity left the class with uncertainty and doubt. All felt they had unfinished work to do. This “emptiness” was due to an internal calling to finish what was started and to expand the efforts. I believe this feeling will stay with the class and will serve to motivate them to participate again in similar projects and experiences.

Thank you to all for sharing the experience with me and those who followed vicariously through this blog.

-Bill