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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.
Jonathan and Alix did an amazing job with the floor removal,
while Clinton and Mario worked their heart out in all aspects of
clearing and cleaning operations as usual. George used his strength
to demolish huge cabinets and drywall in just a few seconds, which
was pretty amazing. Vicky did a lot of work removing bathroom walls
and Yvonne did a lot of shoveling.
Cynshen, who rarely spoke while she worked, really impressed me.
I never realized her capabilities of working so hard and
effectively. I must observe her some more tomorrow and Friday to
pick up some pointers.
Irene was in action everywhere again. Even after having an
exhausting day, she and Alix did amazing work spraying the house to
destroy the mold. We had a hard time getting them back to the van as
they were pretty glued to work. It was pretty fascinating!
Bev had the hardest job of all today with removing tiles. It's
the most monotonous job of all those that we did, but he did an
amazing job. A fact about Bev is the way he keeps his cool and calm
despite the circumstances. I think such mental calmness can be
achieved through more and more experience. He also organized for us
to attend a lecture and a student discussion at Xavier University in
Louisiana .
Xavier University, America's only historically black Catholic
college, was drenched in sludge and mold, and had a flooded library
among other damage after Katrina devastation. Students from Pace
University in New York accompanied us at the program, where Xavier
University students and our students participated in fruitful
discussions on possible plans which could be used in future crisis.
I was shocked at the extreme class differences existing in this part
of the USA, which was also discussed at the meeting. The bureaucracy
and red tape had prevented people from receiving legitimate Katrina
relief money at the time they needed it most. Many from Xavier who
spoke at the meeting were critical of the current administration as
well as of the FEMA department of the federal government.
It's pretty scary to hear about the vulnerability of the city of
New Orleans and the lack of disaster management plans by the local
officials. Students also stressed the need for better leadership at
the national level who could attend to the needs of poor people in
their own country before waging wars on other countries. One student
said Canada and Cuba came to help New Orleans residents long before
the US administration took action. Another student said that no
money had been allocated for Katrina rebuilding from this year's
budget.
All of us who attended the meeting enjoyed it thoroughly. George
also did a good with a speech on persuading Pace University students
to attend the event we are organizing tomorrow evening -- we invited
community leaders in New Orleans to our camp to speak about the
untold story of the suffering of the stricken people.
Notes:-
- George will surely win an Oscar someday for the best comedian,
and Vicky will win an award for the best laugh track.
- Cameroon, thanks bro for your help all the time when i needed
it. I really appreciate it. Ember, you always amaze me with your
talents. You are the person who really got that whole bathroom
mess cleared up! Hats off to you!
- It's such an honor to be working with this amazing team. Even
though we are grouped together just for a week, it is almost a
feeling of an eternal family.
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