The First Week on the Job

Monday was the first day actually working on the house that we are going to be rebuilding for the next six weeks. This week we took the first steps of rebuilding by removing linoleum from the floor, taking out damaged studs and sections of the floor and repairing them, and putting in new doors. To me, houses have always been somewhat of a mystery. I look at them and get overwhelmed by thinking of all of the work and effort that must go into making them. Now, I feel like I have seen the secret to the magic trick of building a house, and once you look at it part by part it is surprisingly less complicated then I had anticipated. Our supervisors have placed a lot of confidence in us even in these first few days, telling us what needs to be done and then just letting us do it on our own for the most part. I NEVER thought that I would be able to build a house, and even just after the first week I feel like I have taken a huge step towards getting there.

However, the best part of the week was hands down meeting the homeowners of the house that we are working on. We got to meet them on Tuesday and they brought us breakfast. They were so nice and charismatic and so appreciative of us being there to help them. They told us their story of the hurricane, how they had left with only the clothes on their back thinking that they were going to be back in a few days. A few days later their houses was occupied by nothing but 6 feet of the water; they had lost everything and have not been able to return home for going on three years now. A number of us said goodbye to them with tears in our eyes, sad for their losses, but happy to be able to feel like we were doing something about it.

Being here in New Orleans it feels like we are living in a history book. We walk down the street and see every other house still with the spray-painted X, still branded, telling a little bit of it’s story, when it was searched, by whom, and what was found inside: cats, dogs, people, and weather they were dead or alive. The damage and pain that this city endured is still very evident. It feels like it is stuck in the past, but it is just because the help to move it forward is not here. Seeing the devastation everywhere is very discouraging, but feeling like we can actually do something to help just one family is more empowering then I could have ever imagined. New Orleans has made me more proud to be a member of AmeriCorps then ever before.