Where we have gotten

            It is difficult to choose one experience that has satisfied the goals of this trip because I feel as though most of the projects we have done have come together to meet our goals. The only project that I feel did not meet these goals was working on the garden because we were not helping a native New Orleanian and we were only helping one person, which I feel did not help the city recover. The planting of the aquatic garden was fun and we learned about how that type of planting helps with damage during the storms like Katrina. It allowed us to learn about New Orleans history and current events as wells as made me feel as though we were helping the entire city because it is a public park. The nursing home was interesting to say the least. None of the residents were quite able to remember anything before Katrina and were not quite sure where they were during the storm either. While we may have left a little impact there, there was no lasting effect and so I feel that our time may have been spent elsewhere. That is not to say I did not enjoy the experience immensely, I loved the residents and enjoyed spending time with them (especially Ms. Dorothy).

            When I thought about the type of service we would be doing on this trip I definitely thought we would find ourselves in the 9^th Ward building houses and I am a little disappointed that we did not make our way over there. However, repairing the house that we did was, to a point, exactly what I wanted to do here. The house was going to leave a lasting impact because it would be used for at least the next 50 years and by the grandmother and then the granddaughter. It was also great that they were going to be able to build it completely wheelchair accessible since both women are wheelchair bound. It was good to do something where we saw our efforts in the end. I understood our “situatedness” and how much we were helping the people of Rebuilding Together. Because we were there the people who actually work for the group were able to take on larger tasks as well as give us the minor tasks to do that may not have gotten done otherwise. We were able to think for ourselves, learn from others, and take on the leadership roles that were needed.

            I feel as though there was a lot more we could have done here and that possibly the garden was not the best use of our time and if we had planned a little better as a group we could have made more of an impact with the nursing home. It would have been great to work with those who were more directly affected by Katrina because everyone we worked with were volunteers from other states. In the future I would like to come back because there is so much more to do here, especially in areas like the 9^th Ward and the wetlands.