ASB Reflections

Among all things this week, there is something that I enjoyed experiencing. I must mention that I am not a religious person, or better, I believe in all religions, in their moral and spiritual teachings, but although born in a Christian environment, I did not exactly learn to pray or reflect upon any biblical stories or others related. However, I do appreciate some religious reasoning.  What I found interesting during this trip were the little stories or quotes that Mike was reading after the morning and the afternoon meeting. For me personally, it did not matter that they were written or derived from the Bible or spoken by Mother Theresa. The important part is that it was really inspiring and it set the tone for the day or in some cases it described in the exact words the experiences I had that day.

One that I still remember and find particularly captivating was the following. A man wanted to know the difference between good and bad (heaven and hell, kindness and greediness). He entered a room and saw people sitting around a table. In the middle of the table there was a plate with plenty food. The people, however, were very skinny. They all had spoons long enough to reach the plate, but too long to reach their own mouths. He then enetered the next room, and there was the same table with same plate in the middle of it. All the people sitting around the table looked healthy and well-fed. They also had the long spoons to reach the plate, but instead, they fed each other. That is the difference between good and bad, kindness and greediness.

This was a story we heard at the beginning of the week and it made me not only know but actually realize the purpose we all came down here. At the moment, we have the long spoons and we can reach the full plate.

“Ugh, No construction supervisor… say what???”

Today was an interesting day in all aspects. I believe we grew stronger as a team even though it was not smooth sailing. It was difficult to get a head start on the work at the house today as we are amateurs trying our luck with construction. Without guidance we were like fish without water. We spent majority of the morning in trivial squabbles and undoing the work we finished previously or earlier today. Now that I think back, it was unnecessary for our team.

Quarreling can be frustrating. However, as one of the crew members mentioned, all is not lost. On this incredibly warm day, we pulled up our socks and got to work. This is largely because through discussion we learned that productivity is not all that counts. Often the thought, process and intent of our volunteering here is what is important. We expect results to often appear magically. This is not always feasible.

But, every cloud has a silver lining. The day ended on a good note despite the hurdles. We finished the touch up painting; fixed the wall we started and sorted out the roof. Speaking to the home owner and his family was insightful. Hearing their part of the story and receiving constructive feedback was great.

Later, visiting the beach was fun. We had driven by earlier but dipping my feet in the water was different. The water was incredibly calm. Seeing the houses on the beach side either reconstructed or still in shambles was eye opening. During reflection today I realized that much is to be learned. We should be optimistic and leave with the satisfaction of making a small difference.

When one enters into the unknown, he customarily has ideas or wishes of what the experience will be like.  This can be good as it can cause excitement and enthusiasm.  However, this can also be bad; as that person may have anticipated an experience completely unlike reality.  For the first few days, the latter statement proved to be true.  We were assigned to a house where the owner didn’t seem grateful or willing to help, and there was somewhat of a lack of work.  After feeling inhibitions about our situation, Mike, the coordinator of Camp Coast Care, sat down to talk with us.  For me, his words put a great deal of perspective on the trip.  He made me realize why I came down to Mississippi.  He told us that it is hard when you have a lack of work and when the client seems ungrateful.  But the amount of work you do is not important- it is what is in your heart that matters.  We came down here looking to help people.  The natives have thanked us for coming down-not knowing what we’d done to help, or how much we’d helped.  It was the fact that we cared and put that passion into action that was important.

After hearing this, my frusteration vanished, and I realized that I’m happy to help no matter who the client is, or how much work I have.  Going to work today myself and my teammates had a whole new perspective on what we wanted to accomplish, and what we wanted to get out of the trip.  We arrived with a new and optimistic attitude about the day.  When we arrived, the boys finished insulating  and dry-walled the ceiling.  The girls and I cleaned the master bedroom tiles that we’d just layed, and started sanding the walls in preperation for painting.  We did this only to find out after lunch that our client wanted the walls taken down.  I’m not sure if that was because the dry wall looked bumpy, terrible and old, or the fact that when I hammered in nail pops earlier, I had found animal dropping that fell to the ground every time the wall felt and impact.

While all this was occuring, my team and I interacted very well with our client, and he seemed more willing to share his thoughts and stories.  Then we demoed the master bedroom. This was an amazing experience.  I took a crow bar in my hand, and all aggression I’d ever possessed, and tore up the wall. It was dirty, messy, poopy (literally), and powdery; but it was awesome.  After cleaning up the old dry-wall, we were done for the day-feeling accomplished, having been productive and interactive with our client.  What a difference a day makes.  I find it ironic that once our team learned how to deal with our unanticipated situation the very day that the frustration ended.  It just goes to show how important attitude is.  Viewing the glass half-full definitely helped.  It is also important to not let outside elements affect what you have come to do.  When you don’t care about what someone thinks about you, you are free from their judgement and labeling.

I feel that we have learned so much in the past day, and I’m so grateful to have met people that can change my perspective on life so much.  Others in my group have said they hope to accomplish a lot of work in the next two days or feel satasfied with their work.  I on the other hand wish that I learn something new in these next few days, so that I can use the knowledge from this experience for the rest of my life.

Today we went back to the house we visited yesterday with the same crew we had + 3 united way volunteers. We finally finished the wall that we left incomplete from the day the water pipe broke !! Looks awesome…would love to see it after it has a coat of paint on. We hit a few snags on the way but nothing we didn’t expect… placing the boards in the right spot, putting up insulation, tolerating zoe for 8 hours :p.
Today I spent 45 minutes crawling around in an attic pulling nails out of the floor and walls and while up there I could see lines where the water level had risen to during the Hurricane. I couldn’t stop staring at those marks almost 12 feet above ground level, still there 4 years later.
When Ed (the home owner) stopped by today around 11.30, he stared at the half finished wall for almost a minute and said, “You guys have done an awesome job.” Just one sentence but it had such an impact on us and pumped us up some more. At the CCC meeting today evening, Michael (the volunteer coordinator) told all of us the we may be just one drop but without us the ocean would be one drop less. Those two incidents really inspired me and convinced me that this was worth it. Flying across the country, choosing to spend my spring break in this way is not a sacrifice of any kind but an experience I don’t ever want to forget.
Overall : finished wall + using a big mechanical saw + mother teresa quotes + mac and cheese + spades + failed ice cream run + clarence and christy taking funny pictures of my foot = awesome day :D

This trip has been a great experience. While many of us thought we would be here solely for volunteer work, I find that many of us are leanring more about Hurricane Katrina, Camp Coast Care, and ourselves. The people we are helping are all so different. They all come from different areas and classes. I have learned how important it is to realize that everyone’s experiences of Hurrican Katrina were different, and although everyone was affected somehow, everyone was affected differently. I initially believed that we would help those who were most in need – such as those who literally do not have a home because it was demolished in the hurrican. Rather we are helping out people who simply need our help. If they weren’t in need of help, we would not be here. I think this group of ASBers have realized that we sometimes need to step outside of the box, and put ourselves in the other person’s shoes because there is always two sides to a story. In order for us to get the most out of this experience, we need not only to volunteer, but learn about those who we are volunteering for such as the home-owners and organizations such as Camp Coast Care.

While it is a great feeling to actually do the volunteer work, I am glad I am here because I WANT to be here. It was very rewarding today though because my group fixed the citing of the wall we somehow managed to destroy even further yesterday (reference “when the water pipe broke” for that traumatic experience…) I think the home-owner would be very pleased to see how dedicated we were to fix that wall after all the troubles there had been just for 1 wall. Hopefully I will continue to see this type of progress while building here for the rest of the week!

After our first day of work, our group got together to reflect on everything we have experienced thus far. We wrote an amazing paragraph we wanted to share with everyone. I wrote one sentence, and we went around a circle allowing each person to add one sentence to the paragraph. The catch was, the person writing was only allowed to see the sentence prior to there’s, not the entire composite. The following is a reflection of our emotions, questions, comments, and reflections.

Natural disasters can be more harmful and disastrous than I ever imagined. I was oblivious to how Hurricane Katrina affected Mississippi and areas other than the 9th Ward. I knew that Katrina affected Mississippi, but when I looked around, the houses seemed to be in tact and New Orleans was considerably worse – what’s up with that? I think that people quickly forget big events in our lives. We have forgotten about Katrina and its victims because it is not on our TV every night. We rely on TV too much. However, Katrina impacted many people. This camp as an example, has so many diverse volunteers from so many places. People forget quickly, but those who are affected are here. Those affected by Katrina appreciate our work more than we will ever know, since we are only here for a short time and don’t see the effects of our work. But we definitely feel that they [Katrina victims] are grateful for our willingness to help. You have to wonder what the victims have done for the past 4 years. After 4 years, the devastation should be fixed and rebuilding should have finished. Even if rebuilding isn’t finished, they should have at least started working on all the neglected neighborhoods. When people are in need, time is of the essence no matter what the circumstances, and other peripheral and unnecessary concerns should be put aside. Always be willing to help out others selflessly so that you come across as sincere.