Pictures from Post Katrina Louisiana:

Trip One Pt 1

Trip Two Pt 1
Trip Two Pt 2

Trip Three Pt 1
Trip Three Pt 2
Trip Three Pt 3

Trip Four Pt 1
Trip Four Pt 2
Trip Four Pt 3
Trip Four Pt 4
Trip Four Pt 5

Reflection #6 (Fourth Day of work)
French Quarter/Garden District.
Toured the French Quarter/Vieux Carre--dinner on Decateur, window shopping, Cafe du Monde, Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, Bourbon St, Riverfront, Aquarium, Canal St.
This is the oldest neighborhood (300 years old) in NO--it used to be the original entire city.
Start at Jackson Sq. You can see the Mississippi River but you're above sea level. You can see the Cabildo, where the Louisiana Purchase was signed. The path on the left is Pirate's Alley which is where duels used to be settled at the first blood.
Lower Garden District? Stick close to Magazine St.

Reflection #5 (Wednesday~third day of work)
Ghandi said that "Poverty is the worst form of violence"
Do you agree/disagree?
Does the Hurricane or it's aftermath have anything to do with poverty?
What is Charity?
Is it the same as Faith?

Nearly 30% of New Orleanians live in poverty. Few American cities have lower household incomes than NOLA. Half the children in Louisiana live in poverty. Most of these people didn’t have insurance. Some needed to wait for their government checks, due the first of the month, three days after Katrina hit. Some 134,000 people couldn’t leave because they couldn't afford transportation. (cite:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9163091/)

Looting v. Taking what you need. People are without homes and jobs so they can't afford to pay for transportation out of the city.

The event has left hundreds of thousands without access to their homes or jobs, has separated people from their loved ones, and has inflicted both physical and mental distress on those who suffered through the storm and its aftermath. The longterm effects will likely be an end to some of the most impoverished neighborhoods in the United States, and end to a large degree the cycle of self-perpetuating poverty contained therein. Schooling, FEMA not giving checks (Flooding insurance v. Hurricane insurance)to poor people (Lori got denied for FEMA and was given a small amount of money that she has to repay about now) and poorer areas got hit while higher/richer/whiter areas did not get hit/as hard.

Reflection #4 (Tuesday~second day of work)
How easy/hard is it to communicate with people of different cultural backgrounds?
What walls can culture, race, and socio-economic background build between people?
Have you noticed any walls between yourself and the locals you are working with?
If so, how do you tear those walls down?
Are any of these walls biases or stereotypes?

Reflection #3 (Monday~First Day of Work)
What did you see today that's different from home?
I feel like people will see things on their first day on the job site that will shock them. They'll be seeing New Orleans for the first time, too and that's a shocking site. I can even compare my first time I saw it (the bridge/silence) and the second time we saw it (passing the Superdome while winning the Big East Championship) and the third time (flying). And how things have changed.
How did what you saw today compare to what you expected to see?
Well, what did they expect to see? Was it better or worse than you thought? Can you believe that it's been 11 months?
What are the biggest differences between Arabi and Kenmore?
Have you seen any cultural differences? There is a long history of French and Cajun residents in the area, which leads to names that are more French compared to the Native American names back home. Have you seen any foods that they wouldn't serve back home? (poboys/fried goodness/seafood) Stores you wouldn't see? (Winn-Dixie/Waffle House/Drive Thru Daquaris?)Hear any funny words? (Parish/County)
corruption? ethnicities?
Disaster related? Economic?

I'm going back to New Orleans on Saturday. I'm excited about it because we just found out we'll actually be in Louisiana and not Mississippi. I'm going to be a chaperone so I'm trying to help out.

I'm in charge of a couple of games: the circle game, heads up heads down, psychiatrist, Mafia, UNO, Eggroll, etc. Then I'm trying to do some reflections.

We're staying at the Adullam Christian Fellowship Church in Arabi, St. Bernard's Parish, Louisiana, which is next to the 9th Ward.

Saturday we're leaving at 7:30am for Kentucky. We should be arriving in New Orleans around 5:00 on Sunday night.

Monday through Friday we will be gutting houses in Arabi. We head home that weekend.

Update with my reflections TBA

create your own visited states map

Great news! Suzanne went to Utah and GirlKris went to Conneticut!

Nearly fifty bodies remain undentified after Hurricane Katrina.

49 bodies in Orleans parish still need to be identified.

It's been ten months. Can you imagine going ten months not knowing where the body of your loved one is? Or if they're dead? Or not having had a funeral or service yet? It's hard to imagine.

They're still finding bodies. In houses they wanted to tear down.

The worst part is that people don't seem to remember it.