Here's a slide show of photos from our trip. Picture at left is from a trip Dinah and Dave took to the Garden District before our plane left.

N'awlins, goodbye for now

As I began the trip to New Orleans, I thought this would be our last trip as volunteers, but now I'm not so sure. Yes, most of the damaged homes have been demolished, however, there is still much rebuilding to be done.

On Friday (Day 5), we finished up the work we could do on Otha's house and it felt good to check off many of the items on the 'punch list'. There is still a lot to be done at her house. We worked all week without electricity and running water. When it rained, we worked in the dark. When we needed water, we went to a neighbor (Bessie) who was nice enough to let Andre use her water, but we had to use a wrench to turn it on and make sure it was closed off tight so there was no dripping.

Friday afternoon, Otha's daughter drove her by the house and we all had the opportunity to meet her. She was so grateful for all the volunteers who come to work on her house. She was very lively and she told us when we come to New Orleans, to come to her house on Orleans Avenue and she'll have a 'throwdown'!

I want to thank First Congregational Church of Bakersfield and our friends and community for supporting this mission trip, it was worth the efforts!

Katherine

Saturday - Good-bye!

After a wonderful dinner last night, we spent a little time "debriefing". This has been an incredible experience for all, and once again, for some of us. Amazement at the hope and fortitude of many of those who have literally "weathered the storm," and are back to rebuild; dispair that there are still so many who are unable to rebuild, due to lack of funds and/or, having been scammed by unscrupulous contractors; contentment on finishing as much as was humanly possible with the seven of us this week for Andre` and Otha Charles; weariness because we have muscles aching that we may not even have known existed; and humility at having had the priviledge to be a part of the rebuilding efforts here in NOLA. The tee-shirts we have this year say, "Rebuilding Homes - Rebuilding Hope". It has been an awesome feeling making something "go up" rather than be a part of making something "come down and go out on the street".
The UCC Disaster Relief Ministry is a strong and viable ministry here in New Orleans. It is making a difference in many folks' lives. Its help is greatly appreciated by those on the receiving end. Thanks to all at FCC Bakersfield, who have helped us with contributions for our rental vehicles and gas. The rental vehicles were critical for getting both us and much of the equipment to the worksite each day. We will be making a donation to HOPE SHALL BLOOM, the disaster relief fund for NOLA, with any of the remaining funds.
Thanks for the prayers of support during this work week.
God Bless New Orleans!

Marty

Friday

(Behind the Charles house Kathryn paints a closet door, Marty prepares to clean tile.)

The PLAN for Friday was to quit early in order to do our clean-up duties at Little Farms (Clean the bathrooms, mop the kitchen, vacuum the dorms...the usual camp chores) BUT we got to wanting to finish our tasks: Dave and Fenton managed the miraculous; framing an impossibly catawampus (sp?) door and making it look almost symmetrical. Dawn and Kathrine, Marty and Erma scrubbed and scrubbed grout haze off tile and sealed the grout on 4 rooms on Otha's side and Erma grouted several rooms all by herself on Andre's side. Dinah finished the chili pepper decorations on the transom and joined in the grout-sealing party, so it was 4 pm before we finished. We loaded up the equipment, came back to Little Farms to clean up, ourselves and the place. While the others started the clean-up, Marti, Dinah and Dave took a trip back downtown to see what if anything had been done on the house on Marengo that we gutted last year. (The house on Marengo we gutted last year) It was something of a reality check, to see that nothing at all had been done; the same broken-down office chair that we used to rest on during break time is STILL sitting on the front porch along with a small pile of old lumber. Two neighbor men sitting in front of their home, watched us take pictures, clearly wondering what we were doing. I went over to explain that we had gutted the house last year and we wanted to see what if anything had been done. He told me the now-old story of how his mother had been scammed; spent $100/hour for $2 worth of work. While seeing that house was a low point for the 3 of us, it also highlighted the remarkable quality you see in some people who can be clear-sighted, hard-nosed, yet still hopeful and willing to bet actual money on it. Our last in a series of remarkable New Orleans meals, (whatever the weather and work-related stresses we suffered, gastronomic privation wasn't one of them) was at Saltwater Grill, where we had the best meal all week. We talked for a long time with our delightful waitress who had transfered to school in New Orleans from Mt. Holyoke, was familiar with Bakersfield because she had attended camp at Rankin Ranch with her Dad and was working at an Arts camp in the 7th ward and loving it. Roasting Chili Peppers over the transom Dinah

At the Charles' House

(Detail: Roasted Chili-Pepper House)

Today, there were some visitors to the Charles' house. Andre's aunt, Rosalie, came by to see the progress. It seemed it was her first time to see all the wonderful colors that Andre had selected for all the rooms in both his and his mother's side of the house. Hillary, from Beecher Memorial Church, where Otha Charles is a member, also came by. We met Hillary our first year we came to New
Orleans. He is a dynamic man and very active in Beecher Memorial Church. He has a lot of vision for Beecher in the community.

After our productive workday, David, Dinah, and Marty got to go to the Hume Child Care Center at Central UCC Church in downtown New Orleans. (There is a web site for the Hume Center, but I don't have the address. You could "Google" it.) This is a Child Care Center that has been in existence since 1911, and Helen said, "We just couldn't let it not continue!" We got to see Helen Smith Green and her mother, whom we affectionately nicknamed Helen, Sr. Today was Helen, Sr.'s 84th birthday. Helen (the younger) had taken the day off, but brought her mother with her and waited for our visit after our workday was finished. (You can imagine what we smelled like!) It was Helen Smith Green's house that we gutted the first year we came to NOLA. We have such special feelings concerning these two magnificent ladies. Helen gave us a tour of the center, and we got to meet a few of the toddlers who were still there. Helen has worked so hard at getting the center up and running, that her own house is still not entirely completed. She has been staying with her mother since the storm. We shared with Helen why all our faithfuls could not be with us this year. She wanted us to pass on her greetings. We didn't take photos today, so maybe we will make a quick stop tomorrow afternoon to get a few shots to share.

Marty

Day 4

(Front door needed half a can of spackle and caulking too to fill up the cracks)

Although we were a bit sluggish from the late night, we worked hard Thursday and I think we accomplished a lot. Dinah finished the trim around the front door and even added her own special touch...we have nicknamed her 'Dynamo Dinah'! I finally finished Otha's closet doors and the trim around the doors. I also helped out with other projects. I tried to help Marty and Dawn who were acid washing floors so someone could begin on the baseboards. Erma finished resetting tiles and began grouting some areas. Fenton helped Erma with some of the tile work and also helped David with the trim work around Andre's front door.

Tomorrow is our last day and there is still so much more that needs to be done. At the beginning of the week, we were told not to expect to finish much, but hopefully the work we did will help them to finish the house soon. I just wish we had more time.

Katherine

(Kathryn acid washing the tiles)

In support of the local economy...

( The bathroom at Jacques Imo's)

We had to go out Wednesday night! We chose a restaurant that was recommended by a local. It's called Jacques Imo's Cafe and it seemed very popular to locals. We all had something different and it was all delicious. After a long dinner, we decided we had to visit the French Quarter. The first stop was Preservation Hall where we stood in the back of a very old room and listened to the 726 Jazz Band play jazz music for the last half hour of their last set. I don't think any visit to New Orleans is complete without listening to live jazz music! Our last stop was at Cafe du Monde for warm, sugary beignets and coffee. It was a nice way to end the day even though we were out later than we expected. Now if we could have only found a direct way back to Little Farms , we would have gotten more sleep!

Katherine

Day 3

When we arrived at the work site, we faced more of the same work, yet we seemed to have made a little progress. However, it was hard knowing it would be a short day. As part of our time here, the UCC disaster ministries takes volunteers on a tour of the levee breaks from Katrina and to the rebuilding sites. So we had to leave the work site at lunch time and clean up to get ready for the tour.

Sarah from the UCC disaster office led our group as well as a group of 19 from Massachusetts in a caravan of 5 to 6 cars across New Orleans. The first thing we noticed about the rebuilding is that we would see a house condemned and right next to it would be a brand new house that was rebuilt. It seemed to be random where we would find the rebuilt houses.

The first site Sarah took us to was an area called London Avenue where the levee was breached. We could see the large section of the levee that had been replaced and we could see empty lots with just a slab where houses once stood. It was hard to tell what was a street and where houses might have stood. We saw one very nice house that looked newly rebuilt and just across the street was a lot with weeds taller than 6 feet tall and an old boat sitting in the street. Sarah told us before Katrina this area had socioeconomically mixed housing. I can imagine it was a neighborhood that was well kept before the flooding. We couldn't even see the water line because it was over the roofs.

(Near London Avenue levee break)

Next, Sarah led us to Ponchartrain Park which was the first neighborhood established for middle class African Americans. We saw a house that was nearing completion which the group from Massachusetts had worked on last year. They were happy to hear the owner would be moving back soon.

The last place we headed to was the 9th ward (and lower 9th ward) where most of the devastation occurred. Driving through the 9th ward, we saw more buildings that were falling down or being swallowed up by weeds and then interspersed, we saw homes being rebuilt. The lower 9th ward was more stark in that very few houses have been completed. Sarah led us towards some funky houses being built. We learned these houses were part of the Make it Right9 project started by actor, Brad Pitt. One of these houses had a blue frame and right next to it, a volunteer group of Mennonites were building a house from the ground up. Across from these houses, we met Robert Green Sr., a community activist, still living in 2 FEMA trailers. Sadly he had a memorial plaque to his mother and 3yr old granddaughter who perished in the storm. It struck us that despite the tragic circumstances he experienced during Katrina, we could see that Mr. Robert Green was so full of life. He was very gracious and anxious to talk about the importance of getting the residents back to the 9th ward.

After this Sarah led us past Musican's Village and onto Beecher Memorial UCC. Musician's Village (by Habitat for Humanity) was an area designated specifically for musician's and their partners in an effort to bring the music back to New Orleans. Many well known artists contributed to fund raising efforts for this project. We could see house after house that were built in long rows painted in bright colors...yellow, green, purple, blue.

We ended at Beecher Memorial UCC to see the progress being made at the church. They were trying to get drywalling done so they could have the electricity turned on. We could still see the exposed beams which showed the inscriptions the team from FCC wrote during the first mission trip to New Orleans.

Katherine

Insectarium

Three of us (Dawn, Dave & Dinah) left the tour early to go see the new Insectarium. The Audubon Insectarium is the first major attraction to open in New Orleans since Katrina. Housed in the old Custom House on Canal Street near the wharves, it is a well done museum of the creepy crawlies. Among the exhibits: a whole colony of leaf cutter ants. You can watch them march up a branch carrying leaf cuttings, partial flower petals and into a clear plastic tube which enters their underground nest. Strategically placed "windows" into the nest show their activities. In the "swamp" room, a large tree filling the space is surrounded by a clear plexiglas ring filled with water, in which you can see fish, diving beetles, a small alligator or cayman(?). There are marvelous displays of beautiful beetles and butterflies...a Japanese butterfly garden to walk through, a rather disgusting display of roaches...an interesting bit of entomological politics... in Germany what we call the German cockroach is called the "Russian cockroach" which in Russia is called the"Polish cockroach". There was a very extensive lesson on termites, an "awards night" which was a take-off of an Academy Awards night, giving humorous, but appropriate "awards" for various insect "skills". I skipped the free snacks but they are available for the gastronomically adventurous.

Generally I felt the museum was very well-done but required several visits to glean all the information. Your fist impression is just being "wow"-ed by the graphics and visuals but after that wears off, there is some real information.

See a slide show of Insectarium photos here.

It has proved so popular since opening in June that you have to get an appointment to visit.

Day 2

(Near Table: Marty Steinman, Elaine Cavanaugh and Marilyn Coe.
Far Table: Garrett Cavanaugh, Kathryn Kurima and Fenton Karnes)

(Little Farms members setting up the buffet line for us)

At the moment we are at the church cleaning up and getting ready to eat leftovers for dinner. Last night, members from Little Farms UCC provided us with a wonderful dinner and there was so much food! We had red beans and rice, of course, fried chicken, pulled pork, corn casserole, salads and Eleanor, the famous 'cake lady' provided some delicious desserts. We enjoyed talking with some members and to Rev. Alan Coe, Rev. Jim Hightower and Garrett and his wife, Elaine. Garrett and Elaine are from Massachusetts and have been the volunteer coordinators for the last year. They are getting ready to go back to Massachusetts. Garrett is the construction supervisor for the site where we work.

Today at the house, we did more of the same as yesterday...cleaning the tiles with an acid wash, painting closet doors, pulling up tiles that did not set, and some carpentry work for molding and trim around doorways. At lunchtime, Andre joined us and told us more of his experience with Katrina. He told us how he was separated from his family without communication for 4 days. He told us how many evacuees were forced on planes without knowing where they were going. He ended up in South Carolina and had to make his way back to New Orleans to reunite with his family.

After lunch, we went right back to work. The time seemed to go by fast, I wanted to continue to work but we had to pack everything up to take back to the church. As we drove back to the church, through the mid city area, you could still see the water line on many buildings. I saw a Church's chicken restaurant boarded up with a water line about 4 feet high.

Wednesday will be a 1/2 day of work so that we can take a tour of the 9th ward and other areas affected by the levee breaches. After that, we plan to eat dinner in the French Quarter as a reward for our hard work. And no visit to the French Quarter is complete without a trip to Cafe du Monde for those delicious beignets!

Katherine

Orientation

Our 7 volunteers, (Dave, Dinah, Kathryn, Dawn, Marty, Fenton & Erma) are all bunked in our dormitories at Little Farms U.C.C. in a primarily residential neighborhood a short walk from the levee which looks from here like a long greensward rising at the end of the street. The surprise comes when you see the pilothouse of a towering large shipping vessel gliding past the rooftops, because, until that moment, you don't see or realize there's water - namely the Mississippi - on the other side of that green mound.

The volunteers who are camped at other churches began arriving at Little Farms about 8:30 am for our orientation - one group from North Carolina and a large group of mostly teens from Massachussetts. Alan Coe, Minister for Disaster Recovery here, outlined the origins of the U.C.C. relief efforts here and explained the processes of seeking and providing help.

The mission started by helping the folks sitting in the pews - the members of of our own churches. One need became quickly apparent: members needed help with choosing and dealing with contractors - some had been "taken" for as much as $60K.

The re-building process for anyone, member or no, starts with a 211 call, a referral line. The caller is assigned a case worker who visits and interviews the caller, researches and verifies their situation with regard to their needs, insurance, "Road Home" and FEMA funds available. The U.C.C. is one of a number of organizations who become involved at this point, providing an estimate for the rebuild.

For its members the U.C.C. recovery program provides $5,000 toward rebuilding - not as a check but as a credit toward plumber or electrician fees. The majority of other funding comes from 3 agencies: Red Cross, United Way and Salvation Army.

The U.C.C. Disaster Relief never turns anyone down, but the process is very long. A committee prioritizes the requests. Twenty-five homes have been completed and there are currently as many active projects. The reason so many jobs are juggled at once has to do with the checkered nature of the work force's skills (!) (Could they be talking about us?) It makes sense to always have a job available that matches the skill level of whatever team is in town that week.

The safety lecture portion warned us to beware of heat, dehydration, fire-ants, bees, mosquitoes, spiders, theft, traveling alone at night and at one work site: cottonmouth snakes and an alligator(!).

So far, the first two are the only immediate issues.

After the introductions, and orientations, the groups each got a "Google" map with directions to their job site. On arrival, we unload our equipment - some of which I couldn't identify yet - and awaited our instructions. Garrett, our job supervisor, gave us a "punch list" which we taped on the window. The immediate project is broken down into discrete tasks and we are to check them off as we do them e.g. 1) spackle the closet moulding 2) Sand the closet moulding 3) Prime the closet moulding - you get the idea - somewhat simplistic, but helps ensure you don't miss any steps . . . i.e. "oops, we just installed the drywall but forgot to inspect for termites first" (see Kathryn's post)

We were served a giant meal tonight, but I'll save the menu and conversation details for another installment.

-Dinah

Red Hot Chili Pepper house

Left: "Chili Pepper House" Right: Andre Charles, owner of right side

We finally started work on our project this afternoon. Sometime after we started, the owner's son, Andre, took us aside to tell us the story behind the red painted house. They chose a paint color called roasted red hot chili pepper to paint the exterior because they love to eat spicy food with red hot sauce. It is a very colorful house to say the least! And it fits in very nicely in the neighborhood. In the left part of the house, Andre chose more subdued earth tones for his mother, a yellow melon color and a couple of different green colors. Andre's side is much more colorful with a couple of different blues and a bright purple.

We learned that Andre's mother, Otha, hired some workers from Mexico to install plumbing and electrical wires to her house after Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately the work was never done properly nor inspected and she lost all her money. Andre started working on the house in April 2007 and at some point, the UCC became involved in her case. They had to lift the house up to treat it for termites and redo all the plumbing and electrical. There is currently a long list of items to be done to get ready to install the cabinetry.

Today, some of us removed tiles that did not set properly, some worked on carpentry, some were cleaning grout off the floors. It seemed to take a lot time to get the equipment in and just to get organized for this project. We hope we will make lots more progress tomorrow.

We have taken lots of pictures but are unable to post them through this computer. I'm sure someone will be able to post pictures back at home.

Katherine

Returning to New Orleans

This is the third trip to New Orleans for me. It has been so exciting to see the changes each of the years as there has been progress, but mostly by volunteers. Near St. Matthew's UCC Church, where we stayed the first year, most of the homes are all repainted and there are no visible watermarks, as there were the first two visits here. Now, most stores and businesses are back and running, or new ones have taken over for places that the owners did not return. Those are the good signs. We have not been to the 9th ward, however, so that may be a different story. Stay tuned for more as we get to work tomorrow.

Marty Stienman

We have arrived!

(Church picnic in a member's backyard. Alan Coe, Director of South Coast Disaster Relief is in yellow shirt and sunglasses.)

Saturday, David Campbell, Dinah Campbell, Katherine Kurima, Marty Steinman and Dawn Dobie all met in New Orleans and got settled at our home away from home.... Little Farms UCC. Sunday morning we attended a wonderful worship service at Little Farms, it's a tiny church in comparison to First Congregational. It really makes me appreciate all that our own church has to offer. After church, we were invited to attend their annual church picnic at a members house located just a few miles from the church right by the levee. We enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs, snacks, homemade banana pudding and a couple of us even enjoyed the refreshing backyard pool. Everyone has been very friendly and welcoming.

Later in the afternoon we met up with the rest of our team, Erma and Fenton Karnes, former members of First Congregational. For dinner we decided to venture out a bit and go to the Saltwater Grill near St. Matthews UCC, unfortunately, we discovered it was closed. There were a few other places nearby and we settled on a little neighborhood restaurant called Lebanon's Cafe which serves middle eastern food. So we came to New Orleans and ate Lebanese food! It was excellent, by the way.

Monday morning we will be heading out to our work site in Orleans parish. We were told we will be installing cabinets, trim and doors. I feel a bit nervous since I have no experience and we are responsible for helping to build someone's house, but we will do our best.
Katherine

Ready to go

2008 New Orleans Crew is getting ready for our trip. Our crew mostly arrives in New Orleans July 19th and begins work Monday July 21. We are smaller this year but we have some new crew members.