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Published: February 8th 2007
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Well, wow, what can you say? New Orleans is unique and scenes of the Katrina disaster are blended with scenes a revitalized community - new homes, refurbished homes, businesses open, contractors (and non-profits and mission groups) all over the place.
Day 1 - In-transit
We started out on Sunday morning (Jan. 28) at 6:00 AM -- 9 degrees F. We drove and drove (a rather, thankfully, uneventful trip except for a random tray that broke part of the van's grill and dented the radiator) and arrived at the volunteer village in Luling, LA around 8:30 PM.
They went through the rules of the camp, what we would be doing, the status of the relief effort, and about the camp in general. We also met the people on staff.
I also got situated in my little villa and met my roommate, Dennis, who is a semi-retired physician that I had already kind of got to know a little bit on the way down to Luling.
http://www.pcusa.org/katrina/index.htm
Day 2 - Mucking
In the morning we headed to New Orleans, crossing the Luling Bridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Boggs_Memorial_Bridge), and after the 45 minute drive into New Orleans in the rush-hour
traffic, in which we passed swampland and communities where we could see waterlines left from the flooding, closed businesses, and general disrepair, we arrived at a house a few blocks from the Lake Ponchatrain levee.
We were working on two houses - one had already been mucked out and bleached and was ready for drywalling. The other needed to be mucked out. About half the crew stayed at the first house to do drywalling while me and the other half went to muck out the house at the second site.
The second site house had mold halfway up the walls (only stopped by the tape/mud between the pieces of drywall). Our goal was to muck the house out -- which means stripping it down to the studs... all drywall, appliances, trim, insulation, wiring, etc. had to be ripped out. 😊 I probably enjoyed this too much and I got sick after two days (more on that later). We did have filter masks since it was relatively nasty business for the lungs.
So I could pick from hammers, sledgehammers, crowbars, etc. My favorite was the crowbar (and my steel-toe booted feet and gloved hands 😊. The molded bottom
Our Trash Pile - 1
This was hauled away on Wednesday. :) have cracked like eggshell... a lot of it I could just kick in and then start ripping it all out with my hands. The upper half needed the crowbar. I took different approaches to this... if I started from the outside of the wall, I could bash a hole in it and pull either with the crowbar or my hands. Once that drywall was removed, I could take out the other side (from the side facing into the wall) and use the crowbar to hit the drywall near the studs and, therefore, take out big chunks of sheet rock very (drywall) quickly.
Along with this I used the crowbar to remove trim around the windows, the floor, and the doorways. With my hands I pulled out the insulation (pretty easy since it isn't attached to the sheet rock or studs.
Of all of the destruction that I was able to enjoy, I think my favorite was climbing into the attic and kicking in the ceiling between the studs. Crawling up into the attic, it was more or less pitch black. I searched around on my hands and knees trying to find the first room to tackle. Finding the
Tearing it Out - 7
This time John was kicking in the ceiling. right spot, I just kicked it in. It was very interesting to watch the attic slowly light up with each kick and the insulation and drywall falling beneath my foot eight feet to the floor below.
During the middle of the day, we drove a few miles to the other site to have lunch and then drove back to do more damage.
After a productive day, we headed back to camp, took well-needed showers, ate dinner, and lounged around until settling in for the night.
Day 3 - More Mucking
More of the same - tearing down drywall, stomping in the ceiling, etc.. Though, Brian had the opportunity to take a sledgehammer to the bathtub tile.
After working, we went to visit the 9th Ward (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9th_Ward). There was serious devastation in this area, and apparently it wasn't in terrific condition to begin with. And it is kind of a dangerous part of town and a tough place to grow up (Marshall Faulk grew up in the 9th Ward). Not much work has been done on the area relative to the rebuilding efforts in other areas. I have heard that 80% of the residents own their
house and land in the 9th Ward -- many houses had been in the family for a couple of generations -- so they are very resistant to have their property bull-dozed. But a lot of the buildings will likely never see better days... the damage is too much to be refurbished (without serious costs that would probably exceed the price to bulldoze and build a brand-spanking-new house.
We then drove back to the volunteer village. Pulling into the parking lot was when I started getting dizzy. I took a shower hoping I would start feeling better once cleaned up. We had a few physicians and a nurse on the trip, so I let them know how I was feeling and asked what they recommended... which was mainly a lot of water, rest, and patience.
Day 4 - Mending
Well, I was still not feeling the best (though, better) so I thought I should continue resting. Around mid-morning I was pretty hungry, so I walked to a nearby Sonic and got a big meal (double-cheeseburger, tots, and a chocolate shake). I then went to the library and chilled out for awhile. Surfed the Internet later, went back to
the library, and then went back to camp and laid down for a few hours. By evening I was feeling much better and ready for the next day's work.
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Rebecca
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mmm.....moldy drywall....how i miss thee. makes me want to go back...