So sorry we havent' blogged in a few days. The computer was down, and we've been darn busy.

Took a tour designed by the Hurricane Relief and Social Justice Project. Went through Upper and Lower 9th, other parts of the 7th ward, and up towards the 17th Street canal close to the west end of the city. Pretty eye opening. The hurricane and the levee breaches were equal opportunity destructors on some level. What is not so equal is that many homeowners have fewer resources to rebuild, and institutional help is slow in coming. It is shocking to see so many homes abandoned city wide after two years. Maybe social activist/tourists like us get an interesting visual snapshot of the city because as outsiders we are interested and willing to go everywhere in New Orleans to see what has happened after almost two years. Our government has been very slow to respond judging by the many, many homes standing empty, damaged, and destroyed all across the city. Is this what to expect if this happened in Boston?

The lower 9th, once you get off the main drag, and drive towards the area of the three levee breaches, is very desolate, like a graveyard. My guess is that about 5% of the homeowners, or less, have returned. Many houses, in what was probably a dense neighborhood, have been leveled, and the area has much grassland. The housing is mostly one story, cottage style homes. Brick homes have fared better than wooden structures. The upper 9th, being on somewhat higher ground, is a bit more developed. Where we are---in the 7th ward---the houses are standing, but the homeowner of our house said that about only 50% of the houses in her neighborhood are occupied. Our tour today took us from the extreme east end of Orleans Parish (lower 9th) to the very west end near the 17th Street canal into neighborhoods of 600k homes that had water lines about 8 feet high. Orleans Parish really isnt' that big, and the tour today revealed much, much city wide destruction. Areas near the Mississippi River (aka Up River)are on higher ground (inc. the French Quarter)and suffered wind and water damage but not necessarily levee flooding.

Our teamwork down here is extraordinary. Injuries have been minor, which is excellent for a group of 22, mostly average skilled workers. We have shimmed, screwed, hammered, plastered, shoveled plaster and pigeon poop, ripped up and built out, installed countertops, cut, measured, (not in that order) and fed each other. We have had to adjust expectations as Monday wore into Wednesday. We are leaving much fun and gratifying work to the next group who will follow us into this house, including painting and floor tiles. We have taken care of structural problems, sheetrocked 3 1/2 rooms, laid subfloors, and generously applied much plaster to our enthusiastic, if imprecise, sheetrocking efforts. We have arranged for a plumber to take care of a cracked waste pipe. (The two Rooter Men showed up wearing Yankees and Red Sox baseball hats.) We glance at the pigeons and hope they move out of the rafters soon before the house if fully secured against the elements. It is fun to watch the dynamics of the group emerge: how the men talk to each other vs. how the women operate, who works well together, and who are better separated to take advantage of their leadership skills. We have cultivated a generosity of spirit towards each other that we should remember to take back into our regular lives.

Some high points: the homeowner's daughter arranged for us to have an authentic crawfish boil, complete with SPICY sausages, potatoes, crawfish, shrimp and gumbo for lunch on Wed. Today we chased the ice cream truck (which our country girl teen called an ice cream machine) down the street with our minivan at the end of the work day. See pictures. Terrific food at Felix's. Had a rockin' time at Snug Harbor, and liked seeing one of our party members standing on her chair in this small jazz club. Thank you Becky.

The homeowner or her daughters (or grandson) have been at the house every day, which affords us easy excuses to take a break and chat. They are a lovely family with deep connections to the neighborhood and to each other. The house, which is quite large, is a gathering spot for the extended family, especially during the holidays. They have the respect of their minister (and keys to the Grace Baptist Church where we are eating lunch), who referred the homeowner to our organization. We did not expect to put a face to the house, and it has been a wonderful perk this week. The neighbors are either friendly and curious, or watchful. We stand out a bit.

When walking around NO in work clothes, it is relatively easy (not in the tourist areas but in neighborhoods) to get someone to talk about where they are at in the rebuilding process. Some strangers have said thank you to us for being here.

It will be very hard to leave Sat. a.m. Most of us feel this way. Five building days feel very short, and we quit the workday after 8 focused hours reluctantly.
Tomorrow is our last work day. We have adjusted expectations and will need to feel good about what we have accomplished: built a strong team of people who will bring this energy back to the church; learned new skills; made the house nearly habitable; made new friends of the homeowner and her family; and moved a bit closer to getting this obviously respected family back into their neighborhood and church; lent eyes, ears, heart, and foodie appetites to the people of NO; and witnessed the citywide damage and destruction which pictures do not do justice to.

Chris