Guest Entry by Jaymie
Part one:
Part two:
Part three:
Email one:
From: Jaymie Stein
Date: Dec 27, 2006 5:03 PM
Subject: hello from new orleans
just want to write and let ya all (yeah, we in the south now ya all) we are okay.
after arriving at about 9pm last night after a 23 hour ride, we claimed our cots in a room with about 20 other volunteers. then, we went out to dinner around borboun street. what a crazy street! it was not totally what we expected...we thought there'd be a little more jazz and blues, but instead it felt like a party college town with lots of loud karaoke. hehe it was fun to see, and i'm sure when we explore it more and talk to more people, we'll find the great jazz clubs and great music sounds out of new orleans.
this morning, they woke us up with a guitar and we ate breakfast at 6:30. we had yummy vegan french toast and fruit salad. then, we went to a safety and health training. this place is quite interesting...it's ran by a group of anarchists, who are much like the appalachian service project folk according to zach...in that it's really humble here-sleep on cots or the floor, eat simple meals, and take some cold showers-hot when you're lucky...
however, zach has said he's happy that he hasn't had to pray as much as at asp. hehe
we just got back from our first day of gutting houses. it was a very long day. we got to our shotgun house and were assigned to gut one side of teh two family shotgun house. we were with a crew of about 10 others to begin-which is apparently pretty big. our leader mentioned to start in the back and then move forward, but once in the house, everyone (although i must say, mostly the men) got real excited to knock dow the sheet rock...i think you kinda get a real sense of satisfaction when that big sheet of wall comes down-whether it's sheet rock, wood paneling, or even tile up the floor. when you walked in the house you could not see the floor in any part of the building. there was a really thick layer of mud-which is residue from the water-it's mud made of the flood water which contained contaminates like feces, chemicals from nearby plants of just a local kitchen or laundry room, dead bodies, dead animals-really raw shit-and it stunk! even with our super respirators on, that smell could not escape you. it was hard work. after you pull down the sides it's sitting in the sludge that has to be shoveled out on to the street...and it's heavy!
we were in the lower 9th ward, which is apparently one of the worst off neighborhoods. it's so devastating. i knew there hadnt been much relief work, but i had no idea it would be this bad. i mean, we couldnt have imagined this. we walked around our neighborhood where the house was, and saw one house that was lifted up and plopped on another houses lawn. this house was so crooked it looked like something out of a fantasy novel. then, you look to the left about 500 yards and see a small red barn sitting atop a wooden fence. all the while, we were not saying hi to residents, b/c they are all gone!
january 30th is the deadline the city has given it's home owners. if their houses aren't gutted by that date, the city will gut it, bill the homeowner, and if the homeowner can't pay, the city's foreclosing on their properties. plus, we are learning that although there are signs that catholic charities and acorn and habitat have placed on houses, they haven't been very present...
well, there are so many other thoughts running around in my head, and i'll get to them perhaps tomorrow, but for now i'm waiting for a hot shower.
hope you're all well.
in peace,
jaymie
Email two:
From: Jaymie Stein
Date: Dec 28, 2006 8:35 PM
Subject: hello from new orleans #2
i write you after a full day of gutting, a hot/cold shower, which means i got about 30 seconds of hot water in it...but i also write you after a nice aromatherapy massage. how delightful i feel right now. there are two volunteer massage therapists here giving massages in the evening for this week-we're luck we came on this week.
today was a really tough day. we worked together again in the same crew, and worked with some friends that we've made as well. we arrived at our site, once again in the lower 9th ward, and most of the neighborhood was abandoned. it's just so devastating, and i don't think it's something anyone can get used to or accustomed to-whether it's a resident, previous resident of new orleans or even a volunteer who's been here since katrina, which is over a year ago now.
our site crew leader got in the house this morning and said it was the worst he had seen. mom, these houses are nothing like the photo exhibition we saw at the metropolian museum. it's worse. this house had everything left in it. yesterday, it was bad with the mud and all, but the family had clearly been back since the hurricane. this morning, though, it was obvious these folks left after or maybe even right before the hurricane hit and still haven't been back! i think the photos are the hardest objects to find. there were a lot of photos in the house, but the water damage makes most of them indiscernable...however, zach and melissa found a beautiful photo of a mother and her baby, and it wasn't damaged for whatever reason. those moments, when you find something that seems it can be salvaged, are really powerful. you must stop and really recognize that i think. this house had water lines on the roof. all around this neighborhood you could see the water lines on the roof tops. this means that water must've been that high for a long time, b/c otherwise they wouldnt have created water lines. and on the roof of the house, there was a bed post, plant, and some other things from the house. then, you get inside this house, and we had to take out all the appliances and the furniture, etc. however, all the parts of the house are on the furniture, like insulation, wood, etc. and of course it's just so nasty with the flood water in everything. another hard thing for me to find today was baby and child shoes. there must've been either a lot of children in the house, and/or they kept a lot of things in the house (well they definitely did keep a lot of things in the house), but anyway, finding those little shoes were hard. i know it's not the same situation, but it almost reminded me of the shoes piled on top of one another at the holocaust museum in DC. there are just so many things in these homes...and i imagine that these people sort of just assumed they'd come back and get their shit back...but now everything's contaminated and couldnt even be properly cleaned nontheless used again. and because this house was so big and had everything in it we couldn't finish it in one day. and boy o boy was there trash in that street after only starting to clean out the house. o, and the roaches in there were as big as a mouse. not to mention the huge rats, which are otherwise called Crats b/c they are as big as cats. and melissa saw a tarantula today, and if they aren't able to survive in this weather for some reason, then she saw a big hairy spider that might as well have been the first cousin of a tarantula.
so tomorrow, we will be going back to the same site. we'll have started and finished this gutting project completely. i imagine there will be some satisfaction in that, but when you look at that pile of trash in front of a family's home that is now completely gutted, i also can't help but imagine a feeling of emptiness and true sorrow for this family. where are they? when did they leave? and how did they decide to not come back? or maybe they cant even get back.
you can see the levees rebuilt, which of course weren't rebuilt to withstand a category 5, which is what hit new orleans...it was built high enough for a category 3. however, when the levees broke during katrina the hurricane was only at a level 1 anyway-talk about poor engineering and poor planning on the city's part.
so, common ground collective, the group we're volunteering with houses us at st mary's school, where they also house new orleans homeless folks. i spoke with this woman joanna yesterday who referred to herself as a katrina survivor, and she lived in algiers, where the hurricane didn't flood much, her apartment got about a couple of inches of water, but the storm was bad and caused a tree to crack and fall in her apartment. she and her daughter were exhausted and needed sleep. they took their bed outside and the cops came over. she explained her situation with the tree in her home, adn they told her if she and her daughter didnt go inside they'd be arrested for public aggravation or public loitering or something like that. then, she said the coast guard came over, she told them what was going on, they told the cops to leave her and her daughter alone or they'd put them(the cops) in jail. this woman and her partner/husband/boyfriend (or any one of those three) told us also that they are getting kicked out of common ground on monday b/c kerry (her boyfriend) hasnt been able to work b/c he broke both wrists. they continued to go on and tell me that this place runs on $150,000 every 3 months. but when questioned alittle more, b/c i was interested in the funding, they didnt really have answers. and honestly, anyone i've asked about funding around here, haven't given me straight answers. last night i spoke with a security guard about funding. he told me they havent gone to the state or for federal funding b/c if they get funding from those sources, well then, those sources would be able to take over the properties we've designated as work site home. it's interesting nonetheless. and hopefully i'll come home with more info. also, joanna, talked about how the levees were bombed...she also said that common ground told her not to tell people that. this whole thing with the levees being bombed is weird. a lot of residents think the levees were bombed b/c they actually were in the 60s. but i just dont understand who would bomb them, and perhaps that's my naivety coming out.
i also some interesting folks last night. i wanted to hang out with the cutest little boy in common groun's cafeteria. his name was cardal. he's 4 and adorable. his father and friend moved here from kentucky for contracting work. they've gotten lots of work, but told us how they love tourists and are more weary of native new orleaners right now.
we are definitely learning so much. i can't believe this our america! and we call this home. i dont know how we can treat a place like we've treated the lower 9th ward of new orleans.
i'm sort of grateful in a weird way that we haven't met the family's whose houses we've worked on thus far. i just would never ever know what to say to them.
well, i think that's about it for now...
we are hoping to go catch a jazz show tonight. yeah!
best,
jaymie
--
"We must be the change we wish to see in this world." Gandhi
Email three:
From: Jaymie Stein
Date: Dec 30, 2006 1:45 AM
Subject: new orleans #3
To:
i do hope i can gain enough energy and momentum to write this 3rd email out after a very long day. it's now a quarter to 1, and we just got back from a fabulous bar/club, the red dragon, where we saw a traditional mardi gras band that was fantastic, and then we saw a really sick brass band with 2 drums, trumpet, tuba, and 2 trombones. they were so much fun we danced our pants off. plus, the bar was a great place, with a downstairs funky cafe and outdoor hangout, and with a balcony upstairs. we needed to get out and have some fun. o, and last night after my email we went to the spotted cat, which typically plays jazz, and last night they had this awesome jazz band, a pianist, acordian, 2 guitarists, an upright bass and a somprano saxaphone. they were so awsome-they're called va va voom. they were french and played like django. now that bar got so packed! apparently they are a hot gig once a week in town-for locals and tourists. it was fun!
so, now to our day today. we were waiting outside in our gear ready to go gutting, but they told us they needed folks to help new orleans residents move out of this apartment complex-projects named the woodlands in algiers...where they didn't get flooded a tremendous amount, but lots of folks left before or after the hurricane. we were needed to help move stuff out, b/c these residents are getting kicked out by a new owner. a developer bought all these projects to develop and raise the rent A LOT! so, our flexible troop got in the vans and headed over to the woodlands. when we arrived, i met rosco, the cutest little mutt i've seen since i left telah and pepper. o little rosco. and that poor dog had gotten flees from the nasty flood water. he chewed up his whole back and it wasn't really bearable to look at it as it looked like so much pain. he's on medication from his sweet owner, and has to wear one of the pet lamp shades to stay out of it. what a sweet little thing. he's totally the neighborhood dog who everyone loves. i immmediately took to him and gave him lots of attention the rest of the day.
we got out of the van, and had to wait for common ground to get organized and tell us where we were needed. it took a while...but we emptied a bunch of rooms and did some good work. the day became even more frustrating when one of the main organizers lost the key to the u-haul. we were pushed back over an hour when that happened. there was a lot of frustration amongst volunteers. even though i think we all know this is the way it works when volunteering in a really chaotic place. and at the end of the day, we've done something really helpful for these residents.
at lunch, we met a group of children from the complex and they were really cute. we all played duck duck goose, and then people were asked to load some more things...but there were so many people that it actually became extra hands, so melissa and i along with our friend we've made from canada, tracey, stayed with the kids. there was a group of about 7-10 kids hanging out with us. there was a group of siblings, raleigh, whitley, and tiger, then there were other siblings shadei and kyley. levante and micheal came and hung out as well. raleigh was about 3 and teh youngest of his siblings, and he was very interesting. he kept wanting to be held and get on our backs. at one point he accidently hit micheal pretty hard and i asked him to apologize; he did. then he felt bad that i asked him to apologize and started to sulk in my lap...as i comforted him. the reason he was so interesting was b/c seconds later he'd yell at us demandingly to pick him up and carry him. then, by the time we had them for over an hour, he got upset over something and punched me in my head and told me to shut up. i started to have little patience for him and asked him to sit out over ont he steps for a bit, but he didnt listen. in retrospect i just feel bad that i had little patience with him after such a short amount of time. he really needs attention and lots of love...
the most amazing spirit i've met on this trip and probably one of the most amazing children i've ever met was shadei today. i first saw her at lunch. she was sitting at the picnic bench and wasn't sitting on the floor playing duck duck goose. she had her hair in nice pretty locks and had her purple lipstick on. she was wearing a matching purple shirt that read "diva" and jeans with her lil' brats sneakers on. i asked her, "so, what's your name miss diva?" the clever 8 year old responded, "you just said it." from that moment on, we got to watch and enter into shadei's world a little bit. this little girl continued to read melissa's palm and read her mind. she spoke in such a way that made her so wise...like she's had years of experience reading minds and just experiencing life. she told us her father comes all the time to give her money so she can go out and buy all her jewels. then, she went back up to her apartment to come out in fancy purple gloves and her magic wand. she went shopping in the shopping cart lying around the projects. this diva really touched my heart and i can't really express how sad that experience made me feel. i walked away from her with a hug in my hands and heart, and couldn't help but cry for her world. this poor little girl has created a fantasy world for her to live in. it was at the same time totally amazing to see. i mean, this is what i do right? i go into schools and bring arts to children to help them find and utilize their very creative minds. well, shadei is certainly creative. and i have no idea what her home life is like or her school life is like, but i can only think about what happens if she loses this world and realizes her reality. this girl really got me today.
i still keep pinching myself to tell me this is my america. this is the country that is so free and so fair and so just and...i could go on, but i think this is all i have in me; at least about shadei for now. what a very special soul she is.
then, there's levante. he and i talked a bunch. he's in second grade and is 7. he moved to houston and is down visiting his uncle. he told me he misses his friends in new orleans. he also told me he just rode his cousin's bike around on christmas. he got a football and a football game for the TV for christmas. he told me he wants to be a football player when he grows up. this boy had a smile that could light up the world. what a sweetie. melissa and i tried to tell him what a good boy he is and she asked if he hears that and he said his teacher tells him. so we told him to listen to her. it's amazing what a teacher can do, isnt it? as we were finishing packing the u-haul, he asked me to go with us. he wanted to come...i told him he couldn't and man was that hard...
these interactions, with these children today, although nothing like the physical strain of gutting, was much more emotionally stressful...i mean, i just feel pretty drained right now. but i also feel like we needed to give them that time that we gave them today. they needed us even if it was only a few hours. i hope we can go back and see them again.
zach became sort of a point person today in the loading of the truck and everything b/c of his experience with this stuff. he really had an intense day with the founder of common ground and a resident of algiers. his name is malik and he really gave zach a lot of information to digest...of which i havent even heard most of. malik also gave zach and a couple others a tour of the projects where they met a lot of residents and talked to them about "their stories." malik got to know zach as well and looked at him and said, "zach, can you come back? lots of places of worship got destroyed and you could work on stained glass, and you could do carpentry...we've got to start rebuilding." zach said, "i hope i can come back. i'll look at my schedule." malik said, "we need you." zach said he'd look and probably come...malik responded,"when, what dates?" that's how much they need help and of course it's a sentiment to zach's amazing ability to be able to get to know someone and create something truly meaningful. hopefully zach can write ya all some more about his experiences and stories that he heard today.
well, this is all have tonight. i'm off to settle down with a book.
love,
jaymie
--
"We must be the change we wish to see in this world." Gandhi
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