Oglethorpe University's Continuing Service in New Orleans

■ Thursday, May 25.
Sara Almqvist reflects on her nine months in America following her work in New Orleans. Read her account.

■ Friday, May 19. Posted by Udara Soysa.
It was a warm day in New Orleans. Although we had tough days and hours at work, the great companionship and awesome food at camp kept us going in full spirit. Continue reading and view photos.

■ Thursday, May 18.
Sara Almqvist writes about her experience with New Orleans resident Ms. M. Read her account.
Udara Soysa writes about a community meeting. Read his account.

■ Wednesday, May 17.
Udara Soysa writes about his unplanned tour of New Orleans. Read his account.

■ Tuesday, May 16. Posted by Udara Soysa.
Wow, the old hammer and crow bar sure felt good in my palms hammering and tearing down massive walls. We were given a house which had many personal belongings inside; taking everything out of the house was really a tough task. Not to mention we had a fridge full of rotten and nine-month-old stale food and toilets with stale water still trapped inside them. Continue reading and view photos.

■ Monday, May 15. Posted by Udara Soysa.
I did not sleep last night to so I would be at school early to get some material for one of our presentations at New Orleans. I was able to get most of my work done before we left for New Orleans around 8:30 a.m. I missed the group from the last trip, such as Vicky, Amie, George, Alix, Jonathan, Amber, Cynshen, Laura and others who were not able to accompany us in the journey. Only Irene, Duo and I were there from the last team. New members include Sara, Jeff, Danielle, and Maria, who added variety to our journey. Continue reading.

Alternative Spring Break in New Orleans
Twenty-six Oglethorpe students departed for New Orleans early on the first day of spring break, March 18, to help clean up and rebuild areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina last fall. Working through Catholic Charities, the students helped gut damaged homes and clear empty lots to prepare for rebuilding. Here are their daily accounts of the difference they made in New Orleans.

■ Friday, March 24. Posted by Udara Soysa.
I woke up for another morning in Katrina-devastated New Orleans. This was our last day of clearing up and cleaning up in the city. All of us were fired up to do our best at the site! We had to finish the new site we started work on yesterday.
Continue reading Friday's entry  - View photos from Friday

■ Friday, March 24. Posted by Mark DeLong.
Today we returned to the home of Lester and Charmaine to help them sort through their personal belongings before they returned to Houston. The group's work earlier in the week was a great help to certain homeowners, but today's work came with immediate results. Lester and Charmaine were overjoyed to discover many of their personal items, including Lester's wallet and Charmaine's elephant collection. The biggest reward, however came when their daughter Ashley stepped out of the car to meet us.
Continue reading Friday's entry

■ Thursday, March 23. Posted by Mark DeLong.
After three days of working on team A or team B, today team Oglethorpe took to work on a house. All of our students converged onto one location to gut a house near the 17th Street Canal. The furniture and appliances had already been removed. Our task was to tear down the walls, bring down the ceiling and pull up the flooring. We divided into smaller groups, with each group tackling one room of the house. The house was buzzing with activity, and echoes of that activity went throughout the neighborhood. A few lots had FEMA trailers, a house down the road was being gutted by another college group, neighbors were going through their homes and collecting what they could, catching up with old friends along the way.
Continue reading Thursday's entry

■ Wednesday, March 22. Posted by Udara Soysa.
It was a cold night yesterday, and I woke up from sleep three times before I actually got up around 6am. For the first half of the day, I did not do much heavy work but the basic shoveling and nail removal in our final stage of the clean-up.  However, with a great meal for the lunch, pain and other health issues vanished like a bubble from my body. The sun was intense but it did not bother us too much. Mark arrived and joined the other team while Bev's sister-in-law Jane joined our team. Jane's is kind and warm spirit really inspired many of us. She also volunteered to wash all of the gang's clothes tomorrow morning, which was an amazing gesture of goodwill. Unfortunately, I will need to do my own laundry tonight to avoid having a clothes shortage tomorrow.
Continue reading Wednesday's entry

■ Tuesday, March 21. Posted by Udara Soysa.
I was woken up today by Bev around 6.30 AM. I only had sleep last night for 3 hours as I spent two hours after midnight washing my clothes and spending an endless time in front of the dryer. 

We left today to the site to complete the work which we believed was 15% of the total work. Boy, we sure were wrong. The work was overwhelming under the heavy sunlight. Thanks to the guidance of Bev, none of us were dehydrated! We were packed up with water. Today, we missed Mario in our group as he had to go to the other group due to even out the numbers. Our group was really upset over the absence of our German friend. Today, I started to work with the mask on to avoid dying on the spot with the mold and dust. Today, the dust was overwhelming, most of us were exhausted by that factor but soon we got used to it.  Continue reading Tuesday's entry

■ Monday, March 20. Posted by Irene Turner.
Wow - the first full day of work in New Orleans, and I am completely exhausted! Our group was lucky in that the house we had to gut was pretty much empty of furniture, but moving furniture to the curb is the easy part. It's busting down all the walls with sledge hammers that's the real work out! After that, it was to the ceiling! Alex and I crawled up to the attic and "crab walked" on the beams while kicking down the ceiling. That was actually pretty fun but it was scary to look down 10 feet to the floor while balancing backwards on 2x4 beams. But our inspiration was all around us in that house - I found a picture of the owner, an elderly lady, and an old prayer card, and I nailed them right beside the front door so every time we walked in the house to get another load out to the curb we were reminded of why were there. All in all, it was a very good start to the week and I feel great about the work we accomplished and the reason were here.

■ Monday, March 20. Posted by Udara Soysa.
Finally we are at the ground site cleaning and clearing Katrina affected houses. Jonathan, Ember, Yvonne and I were leading Team A, and the group was assigned a house in a New Orleans suburb. Although we did not have much furniture to clear out before the main clearing operation, we had to move a refrigerator outside the house. Moving the refrigerator was a tricky task. We knew that if we accidentally opened the refrigerator, the sweet smell of the 6-month stale food would greet us and basically stop our work at the site. Jonathan, George, Mario and Clinton taped shut the refrigerator and moved it out to the garden. I deem it the trickiest job of the day.
Continue reading and view more photos.

■ Sunday, March 19. Posted by Udara Soysa.
I woke up this morning about to have a heart attack when I realized I went to sleep around 11:00 p.m. yesterday! It was the first time I'd been in bed before 3:00 a.m. in the last six months! And I actually woke up around 6:30 a.m. We were soon greeted by an awesome New Orleans breakfast! The New Orleans chefs sure knows how to feed a guy! Bev Hoffman was telling us the other day that these chefs preparing food for volunteers are professionals displaced by Katrina. I am going to recommend these world class chefs for the Noble Peace Prize for the best food service as soon as I get back to Atlanta!

By 9:30 a.m. Bev and Dr. Schall took our gang on a tour of devastated sites to get more insights into the Katrina disaster. We were visibly shocked. Most of us had never seen anything like that before in their lives. I sensed a connection developing in the hearts of the gang with the Katrina victims while we were at the devastated sites. This was a great feeling personally for me to see how great and big the hearts of my friends are! I felt honored to be in their presence. They were willing to work their hearts out for Katrina support tomorrow.  Continue reading.

■ Saturday, March 18. Posted by Udara Soysa.
The moment we had been waiting for had finally arrived - we are leaving for New Orleans! We went through the toughest part of the journey, which was packing our million and one bags into the 15-passenger vans, each carrying 13 people. However, it was fun. It reminded me of how the private bus drivers operate in Sri Lanka, packing hundreds of people in one bus! For the passengers it was a comfortable and spacious journey to New Orleans. I tried my best to impress the gang with my non-sleeping abilities as I did not sleep Friday night; however, I soon found myself dozing in the van, along with many others, within couple of hours!

Before reaching our destination, we witnessed first-hand the devastation of Katrina. This was similar to what I saw in Mississippi last year, although not as bad as what I saw in Sri Lanka after the tsunami. However, whatever comparisons are made, the devastation was far-reaching. We met a couple of folks before we reached New Orleans who were very kind and nice to us. In fact, one attorney offered us his assistance if we ever needed it. Meeting these people was indeed such a heart warming experience. Although Katrina affected the material environment of Louisiana, it did not diminish the great spirit of the people here. Continue reading and view more photos.

■ Saturday, March 18. Posted by President Lawrence Schall.
It's odd to have the first blog from New Orleans come from me but there's one and only one reason - I am getting ready to go to bed at 10:00 p.m. and the 26 Oglethorpe students who I have the privilege to be with are just getting started. We are in Camp Algiers, the base the National Guard set up last year. There's maybe three hundred cots in our large tent (there are five other such habitats). Lots and lots of college kids here, from schools all over the country. Hey, it's Spring Break and they sure seem to be having fun. Do I feel old or what? They tell me I'm the first university president to grace Camp Algiers. That's a first I'm proud of.

Upon arrival, the staffer in charge asked our group if we wanted to split into boy's and girl's groups for sleeping and just as I was about to begin formulating a response in my head, the OU 26 answered in unison: we'll stay together. I have a feeling that's how this week will go - we will be together AND I will have little to say. Continue reading.