Click here to see Day 2 Pictures and Narrative

Hello to you all from New Orleans,

While our flight was delayed in Denver for a couple hours, we still arrived with time on Sunday to get our bearings a bit and get oriented for the work we will do this week. Our coordinator is named Alex, and because there are fewer groups than normal here, we have his undivided attention. He is originally from the neighborhood where we are working and has already made our experience very rich with detail and perspective.

Our first day’s work was in a part of New Orleans called “Lake View.” We worked hard today, tearing out layers of paneling, carpet, plaster and flooring that have been layered over for almost 100 years. While the work is hard, there is less mold than we expected because it has been a drier year.

As we drive through any part of the city most of it looks pretty normal, as if people are living and working like you would think they were in every city. But all you have to do is stop at any strip-mall or neighborhood to see that it is not the case. Many of the houses are brick, which means they basically still sit where they were before the hurricane. Most of them are empty. Many of the businesses are closed, although the parking lots have been cleaned up. We have learned much about the complexity of the problems in this city, and the magnitude of the disaster, especially when Alex said to our group, “So far you haven’t been in a part of New Orleans that wasn’t flooded.”

We are ready for a great week, and are working hard. We will talk to you all soon.

Vi & Ed, Karen & Steve, Gail & Marvin, Sherman, Marge & Pastor Jeff.