Take Me Back to New Orleans!

I can't believe we've been back in New Jersey over a week now.  I left my heart in New Orleans.  Since we've been back, I think I've listened to Kermit Ruffin's "Drop me off in New Orleans" at least a dozen times.  I can't seem to get the Zydeco out of my system (or the paint off of my jeans!) since our return to New Brunswick.

This Spring Break was all that it could have been and more!  Eight mini vans carrying forty five college students and five Water Watch Americorps Volunteers headed off to the Cresent City bright and early (6:30am) on Saturday March 15th for what would prove to be an epic journey full of good music, new friendships, Sonic Burger, painting, sanding, mudding, and eye opening discussions on race relations, poverty, and environmental injustice.  

After a two day drive to NOLA, 28 of us ended up in the Lower Ninth Ward, a neighborhood completely devastated by a broken levee during Hurricane Katrina.  Two years after the storm, the Lower Ninth looked like a ghost town with just a few rebuilt homes.  One school I walked past everyday still had a sign that said, "Welcome Back, classes start August 30th 2005." We stayed and worked with an organization called lowernine.org (check out their sweet web page at www.lowernine.org).  Every day we woke up to pancakes and grapefruit, then headed out to work were we removed trash, installed base board, and learned how to put up dry wall.  I worked on Miss. Eula's house and spent most of my time painting the kitchen and caulking trim! After dinner we spent our time getting to know each other and the city of New Orleans.  We spent two evenings in the French Quarter, eating Beignets at the famous Cafe Du Monde and listening to live Zydeco.

My favorite part of the trip by far was getting to know the Rutgers students who gave up their spring break for a week of hard labor.  They slept on cots, waited hours for a shower, and ate MREs for lunch! My conversations with these students gave me hope for the future of my country.  They are unwilling to remain complacent when social injustice occurs in our country, and they sacrificed their personal comfort to help out their fellow Americans.  

Thank you everyone who supported us on this trip!  You allowed us to do great work, while helping to provide us with an experience that will last a lifetime.