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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.
Meanwhile, slowly but surely, the girls (Ember, Cynshen, Irene,
Yvonne, Alix) completed a job-well-done with moving most of the
stuff outside the house. Then we all began the demolishing phase of
the cleaning operation.
Cameron baffled most of us with his skills and knowledge on using
hammer. It was great having him by our side with all his tips.
Jonathan was our “Incredible Hulk” for the day, doing almost all the
major demolition. At the end of the day, he really resembled those
commanders in the Marine Corps with his face covered in many colors
of dirt!
If we laughed 100 times during the day today, I can assure that
98 times were caused by George. He was packed with humor today!
Ember and Yvonne were pretty annoyed with me since I did not use my
mask and goggles to protect myself from dust and fungus. Though it
was fun annoying two of my favorite people on campus, the mask and
goggles would have freaked me out within 20 minutes of wearing them.
Tearing down an iron cabinet was an uphill task. Jonathan and I
tried every trick in the book to tear it down. We were hammering it,
kicking it, cursing it, handling it with crow bars. We even tried
hanging ourselves to the iron cabinet to bring it down. Alas, the
cabinet did not come down, but we did. Finally Jonathan took it
personally and waged a war with the iron cabinet. Some mysterious
energy engulfed Jonathan as he hammered the iron cabinet down to the
ground as if he was fighting a guy he caught messing around with his
wife!
Clinton was the man of the show today. He was filled with energy.
Wherever I looked, Clinton was there hammering something or other.
He tirelessly worked to do the most demolition in the house while
being cut in several places in his skin from shards of metal
objects. I hope he will keep his word to get a tetanus shot when we
return.
Mario was the man when it came to being on ladders tearing upper
parts of the wall. I think he worked for two straight hours in the
same position with a heavy hammer tearing down those walls.
When it comes to clearing up the floor, Alix was the girl for the
job. Although betrayed by George several times, Alix did most floor
cleaning.
When it comes to strength, I feel George and Jonathan were the
assets of the group. However, each and every member of our group
played the roles of leaders and did their best to the cause. Bev was
always enlightening us with tips while being actively engaged in
work.
Around 3.45 p.m., we stopped our work and headed back to the camp
with 85% of the house work complete. We were all dirty, but none of
us cared. We felt awesome that we did something worthwhile! Our work
will bring smiles to those people who will be soon living in that
house. I saw ruined photos of some children in the house. Imagining
those children coming back to the house because of our efforts made
us proud of our work. Our efforts will indeed bring a change to this
worth. This is what our lives are all about.
Most of us had showers soon after arriving to the camp. About 20
minutes after our arrival, Team B accompanied by President Schall
arrived at the camp. Apparently, Dr. Schall had been the star in
their camp. Most Team B members talked nonstop about how Dr. Schall
worked without taking a break. He said that he is used to working
hard when some of us asked him about the magical secrets behind his
success.
Some folks in the gang went to see New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
while Mario, Dr. Schall, Kelly, Remy and I stayed at the camp. Soon
we will head over with the guitar to meet up with our new friends
from Alaska, Massachusetts and New York to start the guitar music
session.
Photos by Amie Lane
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