On Monday we began our community service projects. My service project was aimed toward SlaveHaven, which is now a museum. SlaveHaven was known as the Burkle Estate. It is believed that Burkle, who was a German, helped slaves escape to the north by hiding them in his house. Our job was to renovate the front porch and also re-paint the interior walls. My group was sooooo great and I had so much fun. I learned a lot about the history of slavery in the United States. One thing that I learned was the history regarding the slave ship called Amistad. Amistad was a ship that went from Senegal on route to Spain. While on the ship, the Senegal people rebelled against the slaveowners and killed all but two.They were brought to Connecticut and were arrested. After a long struggle, the States gave the Africans the right to travel back to Senegal. That was an amazing story.
We spent the whole entire day rebuilding SlaveHaven. I painted the floors black, and to tell the truth, I DID A GREAT JOB!!! So did everyone else.
Also, we did some gardening outside the estate as well. That was the first time I ever did any gardening. I dug up some soil and put some beautiful flowers in. It was a life-changing experience because now, I am a part of history by helping to renovate a historical building.
On Tuesday, which is today (had to do some catch up) we finished our work. We stripped the walls and put some primer on, which was back-breaking ... lol. The women who run the museum were so happy and started to tear up as well. It was so cute. I knew that we had done something great for these women. Their eyes said it all.
Today, we also went to help out at a soup kitchen at St. John's Methodist Church. It was similar to Bucknell's Community Harvest.
Comments (1)
Hi Lucy and Loretta! Wow, you guys are having great experiences! Thanks for posting. I look forward to reading more tomorrow!
- Kelly
Posted by Kelly Finley | March 14, 2007 10:03 AM
Posted on March 14, 2007 10:03