FORGOTTEN?

It was amazing to go to a city that once was densely populated and see the streets empty and seemingly forgotten. We saw homes moved from their foundation and dwindling hope as a backdrop for groups from all over the nation teaming up to restore hope and opportunity. Though tough, it was very rewarding. Sweat, blood, and maybe some tears all contributed to our experience.

How often does New Orleans run across your mind? Unless there is a news clip or a short blurb in the newspaper, it probably isn’t the city that you think of when you want to go on a mission trip. You most likely do not think to send money to a local charity to assist in meeting the needs of the people caught up in the winds and flood waters of hurricane Katrina over a year ago. In fact, advertisements invite you to experience the Rebirth of New Orleans and we rarely see stories in the news anymore about the help they need there. A common theme that came up while we were in New Orleans was that it is a city that has been forgotten. Personally, I didn’t realize how much destruction came from Katrina and I thought that it was all cleaned up already; I forgot about the city. It even seemed that the rest of the country forgot or just didn’t want to help, aside from a few church groups and a few others. Does the nation remember that Katrina occurred?

New Orleans once was a vibrant city flourishing in many ways but now it is a ghost town. The downtown area had a gloomy silence with an occasional police siren or the owner of a bar crying out hailing your business when next door a shop was closed because they don’t have anyone to work. However, the destruction that was seen in the city was dwarfed by the damage in an area called the 9th Ward. In the “Lower 9th Ward” the levees broke and homes were crushed by flood waters and moved by winds. Once this area was home to around 30,000 people; the population has since dropped to around 5,000 people. Homes were moved from the foundation, gas stations turned on their side, and the damage goes on. The city sits in devastation, and the families that once lived there have since forgotten their home for a new life.

Six of us embarked from 121 to help in New Orleans . With little knowledge of what the need was we went ready and willing. We were teamed up with two organizations -- “Baptist Crossroads” and Habitat for Humanity -- with a goal of impacting New Orleans. We planned to build homes, but as our Habitat for Humanity leader said, more importantly, we would be building relationships, some of them for a lifetime and others for an eternity. We had several opportunities to eat with team mates, dumped a water cooler on our group leader for his birthday, handed out Million Euro’s and sometimes just sat next to someone on our break and shared the gospel.

Our group was assigned to a crew that worked on finishing – painting, installing cabinets, and finishing out/building the front and side staircases. Drinking water and dripping sweat, we worked side by side with many people that were there just to help. We worked with other workers and future homeowners to bring a dream and hope to life. Starting from the ground up, 40 homes were being built at one time. Nearly 150 volunteers worked laying foundation, building flooring systems, framing, putting on siding, installing sheetrock, painting, roofing and otherwise putting houses together. Each day we started at 7am and worked until 2 or 2:30pm to work during the coolest time of day. With the 95 degree weather and 600% humidity, we drank the air and breathed the water.

Where devastation consumed the lives of many people, we brought hope and opportunity for another beginning. We helped to make shelter and offered eternal protection.

::Bryan McCallum

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