Bucknell Katrina Recovery Team

This morning we woke up early for breakfast and then orientation that started at 6:30 am. Directly after learning about what we were to be doing during our stay here, we got our helmets, work gloves, face masks and goggles and boarded the bus that brought us to the house we would be working on. For the time we are here, our group will be gutting houses, so pretty much, we are coming into the houses as they were left and removing all the furniture, debris, walls, insulation etc. We split into two groups, and my group went to a home where all the debris and furniture were already cleaned out, so that made our job a little easier. It was my first time gutting a house, and I have to admit, I enjoyed it! It was a very satisfying feeling to come into the house and see it look as damaged as it did and then finally, to take a step back and see how you have transformed the house with your own hands.
We got to meet the owner of the house, and he explained to us that the house was new; it was only two years old when Katrina hit. He had evacuated the property before Katrina and had been able to come back three months later. He described the neighborhood as “gray” and “deserted” and that just thinking about how it looked still gave him the chills. He and his family have already moved to Mississippi and he doesn’t plan on staying in New Orleans permanently. He was very lucky because he had taken his photos with him when he left, so even though most of his belongings he left behind were not salvageable, he still had those memories which are more important. He helped us with the home and it was very interesting to be able to hear his story too.

After we finished with the home, there was a monstrous debris pile in the front yard. It definitely felt very rewarding at the end of the day!

Driving around, we saw so much devastation. It is so different than the New Orleans I remember visiting. Blocks and blocks of residential homes are just in ruins and abandoned. While some people move on, like the owner of the home we gutted today, some people love New Orleans and will continue to live here even though the city is in so much need. Our taxi driver last night commented that she grew up in New Orleans and has moved around a lot, but for some reason she keeps coming back to the city, because it’s home. I think people like these are the ones who will keep New Orleans surviving through this rough time.