New Orleans and DRS

A quick update on our travels since our last post:  After Houston, we spent a few days at Crystal Beach on Texas’ Bolivar peninsula, close to Galveston.  Beautiful beach and it was fun to be able to park the RV right on the beach.  This peninsula was under 12 feet of water after Hurricane Ike came through in 2008, so almost all of the homes along the shoreline are new and are now on huge 15 – 20 feet high stilts. Flood insurance is very expensive, and islanders are apparently upset that the Texas government has passed legislation allowing insurance companies to charge rates that actually reflect the flood risk.

From there we made our way to New Orleans where we arrived on Oct 30. We took a walk through an area on the other side of a levee from where we were camped - our first look at a neighbourhood that suffered significant damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  About one fourth of the lots are vacant, the destroyed homes having been moved off the site. Had an interesting chat with a fellow named Nicky who told the story of how he and his aging mother experienced Katrina.  The water was 18 ft. high for three weeks.  The next day we were joined by John and Marge Roukema, who were also traveling North America but were heading West. We met in NO and spent a few lovely days together.   We visited the beautiful, old St. Louis Cathedral, enjoyed Café au Lait and beignets in NO’s famous Café du Monde, walked NO’s Garden District, rode the streetcar, visited the historic St. Louis Cemetery but mostly we wandered the French Quarter – including a rainy but warm Halloween, (not necessarily a good idea – Bourbon St. is wacked enough on a regular night).

The original Cafe du Monde was opened in 1862.
The place is packed all day long.

                     

     
        We visited the St. Louis Cemetery. People in New Orleans have to be buried above ground because the water table is so high. After Hurricane Isaac some of the underground coffins were floating in LaPlace.                                              

While we were volunteering in LaPlace we had the
weekends off. We visited a plantation, took a swamp tour and a ride on this old fashioned steamboat. There are only two steamboats left in the USA that run totally by steam. We saw a lot of alligators on the swamp tour through the bayou.

           Disaster Response Services

     DRS

We just completed three weeks of serving as volunteers with World Renew’s Disaster Response Service (DRS).   Our team of 18 volunteers worked on 4 different homes that were heavily damaged by Hurricane Isaac in September, 2012 in LaPlace, Louisiana, half an hour north of New Orleans.  With the entire team, we billeted in the Kenner United Methodist Church, where DRS has converted second floor classrooms into dormitory style rooms.  It was a wonderful team of committed, mostly skilled (present company excepted) people, who work hard and enjoy good fun and fellowship. 

The home where Peter spent most of the time, is actually a trailer which has had a number of sections added over the years.  It is the home of Ms Earline Wilson, who has consented to our posting these pictures and writing about her.  Earline has lived on the property for 60 of her 62 years, first in a house, and when that was torn down, in the trailer since 1978.  The trailer is home for Earline, and two granddaughters aged 13 and 21. When we arrived, this home was in terrible shape and our job was to tear down a wall and extend a small kitchen into an addition which was not complete and was only being used for storage.  After tearing down the wall, our team of up to five people insulated, dry walled, taped, sanded, straightened out the floor, and painted the new floors, giving Earline about twice as much living space as she had before. There were also a number of unexpected problems with the plumbing and she ended up getting a new bathroom. (The floor turned out to be totally rotten.) Besides Hurricane Isaac, Earline has endured many other trials and challenges, and we are so glad to have been part of this project for her. 

Mabel did a lot of painting, mudded and taped dry wall, sanded and mudded some more, and sanded and mudded some more, grouted two bathtubs and laid floor tiles. We have worked hard but it has been a wonderful experience. It is a bit like going to camp – sleeping in dorms, delicious food cooked by someone else, devotions and singing, playing games, or puzzling in the evening. At the end of the three weeks we feel like we have know these people for a long time. We learned a lot of new skills and feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet our clients and to be part of an organization that gives "a cup of water" in the name of Jesus. The clients are so thankful that God has brought us all into their lives. They testify to God's faithfulness to them despite the horrific things they have gone through.  We and most of our DRS team went to church with Earline - which was wonderful! It was what you would expect a Southern African American church to be like. Rich singing and powerful preaching!

Another client whose house we worked on told her Hurricane Isaac story. There was absolutely no notice. She heard a sound and looked out the back door to see what the sound was and the water rushed into her home. She had just come home from the hospital after chemo treatment for stomach cancer and was very weak. She told me that she prayed to God and God provided a neighbour's boat at her front door. She got in to the boat and floated down her street picking up neighbours. One young woman didn't want to get on the boat because she was too distraught. The flood waters had just ripped her twin babies out of her arms and carried them away. Our client convinced her to get into the boat and calmed her down with the story of Job. About 3 months after the hurricane a group came to gut her house to get rid of the moldy drywall etc. She didn't have money to fix her home because she spent all her money on chemo. She told me that she lost everything, but she had her life. She was so grateful for everything and praised God for his faithfulness.

                    One of many homes in the 9th Ward, NO that has been abandoned. 

We left Kenner Saturday morning and already the new team of volunteers from Canada and the US were arriving to take over our rooms for the next three week stint.  We have gained a deep appreciation for DRS - the organization, its leaders and the "greenshirts" who do the site work. DRS is presently serving at five locations across North America, and has been in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 - ongoing: one three week team after another for most of the year.  DRS places teams in homes that have been identified by the board of the local Long Term Relief Organization, which represents a number of churches and community groups.  People receive assistance after they have met certain criteria, which will have been determined by an interview with Needs Assessment people and a visit to the site.   For more on how DRS operates, just go to http://worldrenew.net/greenshirts.

Back at "camp" after a hard days work.