Day Two: Friday, January 6
First we want to say that we are REALLY enjoying your posts. We read them aloud at night, and everyone hoots and hollers and oohs and ahs. Thank you, and keep them coming!
From the snoring we heard, it appears that people found a way to sleep last night. Today began with an early morning run for a few of our group (the crazy ones?). The rest of us rolled out for pancakes before we headed off to work. We went to Parkway Partners and heard a number of moving stories about how locals weathered "the storm" (this is the phrase they use more than "Katrina," "the hurricane," or "the flood"). Jean Fahr of PP summarized what we should do for her and all of the other remaining New Orleanians: "Work with us, talk with us, cry with us."
After our orientation, we headed out to a community garden that was full of debris. There was a dead tree to remove, and lots of ground to clear. Once it is ready to plant, someone will use it as a "market garden." That is, it will become a source of income as the gardener sells vegetables at local "green markets."
We got to work, and were thrilled when neighbors stopped by expressing their gratitude. They said that everyone is dealing with such important issues that "no one has time to bring back the beauty." One man, Billy Edwards, stopped by with two of his five dogs (these two pets he adopted after the storm). He was taking our picture, and when we came out to meet him, he told us that he wanted to send the picture to his friends by email. He pointed out that his local updates are usually full of bad news, and he was eager to convey images of hope. (Billy went right home and entered a message of support for our group onto this site; we were amazed when we read it.)
We're shutting down for the night, and really bundling up, as the thermometer tells us that it is 33 degrees. Tomorrow: the Ninth Ward...
At Parkway Partners.
We liked this picture because of the message on the t-shirt: "Let me drop everything and work on your problems." EVERYONE here needs some kind of help, but there are not enough workers of any kind to go around. We're sure that most locals appreciate the sarcasm.
Today was the debut of our tepee outhouse and our "luggable loo" (a five-gallon bucket, lined with a garbage bag, with a clip-on toilet seat). No one christened it, but at least we knew it was there.
We were struggling without a chainsaw to bring down a dead tree when a tree service down the street noticed what we were doing. Danny, one of the tree workers, appeared with his chainsaw and reduced our work quite a bit.
Danny finished off the last of the main limbs, while Feke from our team guided the falling piece past the fence below.
Our new friend Billy, mentioned above, tells us how he acquired his two newest pets after the storm. Rachel is holding Buddy, and the other dog is a special local breed that always has one brown eye and one blue one (sorry we didn't get a good picture).
One of our teams posed for a shot as we finished the garden on Music St. after dark (and after the COLD set in). New Orleans is very humid even now, and "a humid cold" is particularly wicked.
Here is the Music St. garden about halfway through the job, with each team undertaking its assignment.
A couple of our crews lunched on MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) that aren't of the freeze-dried variety. We liked the cans of chicken salad better than yesterday's chili. Inside the building behind them, workers were painting. They offered us even more MREs, as people seem to be getting sick of this kind of food (these workers are so thrilled that a Wendy's has reopened that they eat there every day). It's a good experience for us to see what kind of food evacuees and other rescue workers encountered.
A longer shot of our crew on the curb and the newly-painted building behind them.
Our friend Danny (above) left before the stump of the dead tree was removed. These four guys spent most of the day finishing the job with only a hatchet. This "trophy" represents only about 1/3 of what they removed.
Here's the "after" picture of the garden. Now the market gardener can get a great new start.
Patricia, one of the neighbors of the garden, stopped to greet us, then went back home, changed her shoes, and came back and joined us for the rest of the day.
Our student tech expert, Elijah, patched together two pictures inside the bus to try to convey the layout. He took this shot from the back of the bus facing forward. Note the drop down bunk on the left, hanging from straps between the two other levels of beds.
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