Hey worlddddd, it’s Veronique
Sleeping on the beds was way more comfortable than sleeping
on the floors at Concord United Methodist Church. Although thankful to stay at
a luxurious church for the night in Tennessee, I was highly grateful to have a
bed! A beautiful night sleep was well needed for all the work we did for today.
The girls, without a surprise, woke up earlier than the
boys. However, I do applaud the boys for getting ready in time for the project!
The first day asked us to help plant at the Audobon Nature Center, which was about
a 15-minute car ride from Common Ground Relief. I scanned the city during the
drive to there and took note of the aftermath from Hurricane Katrina. It was
mindboggling how much of a difference can be seen even just from the
neighboring communities. Abandoned hospitals, damaged homes, rundown
recreational centers—all clearly showed signs of the hurricane even years
later.
Once we got there, we were told about the disaster before
beginning our task. Amy, the Director at the Audobon Nature Center, educated us
of Louisiana’s condition from before and Hurricane Katrina. She then went into
detail of the purpose of the marshes and wetlands at the center during the
hurricane. The wetlands’ great ability for flood control helped save the
community next to the center as it held about 1 million gallons of water per
acre. Wow. I could never imagine a piece of land with a bunch of trees have the
capability to do such a thing.
Afterwards, we were given the task of planting 50 trees at
one-side of the wetlands and given one warning: watch out for fire anthills. Clearly
Tom undermined this warning, since he stepped on one and nearly got attacked by
a huge colony of these monsters. My trip leader, Jen, helped me successfully
plant six tree plants. A high-five was highly necessary after every planting,
as it required blood, sweat, and tears to shovel in the muck. (just kidding…
but really). Then, we set about 30 others just around the wetland to prepare
for our project on Monday. Once that was completed, we drove to our next task
but were given a lunch break beforehand. Thankfully, we were all starving and
used all of that energy gained from lunch to weed, replant, and remove water
from the plant ponds. Everyone’s hands came out full of mud, except for me.
Gloves are the way to go! Sarah, Jen, Ashley and I further satisfied everyone
when we cooked a dank dinner of chili, vegetarian chili, corn bread, rice, and
salad. You may now call us chefs #YES
Of course rounds of games were played after dinner, since most
of us fell into a food comma—filled with laziness, while Kenneth, Courtney, and
Matt went for a grocery run. Once we realized they have been back hours later,
we stopped the games and reflected as group about our day. We began again with
our highs and lows then continued to another activity that involved us to pick
a piece of paper from a pile that had an incomplete statement. The activity
exposed people’s deeper emotions and their reactions from the day’s task. We
then became even more emotionally engaged when we moved onto our last activity
of an “open floor”, where each of us just talked about our realizations of the
destruction and observations. I personally felt more connected with my team
after today’s reflection and I look forward to tomorrow’s relaxation time with
them at downtown New Orleans!
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