Weeks 4 & 5

I got to help chop Jacquie's hair off. Fun!!

Sinking into bed as I write this is such a relief. I cannot recall the last time I was this tired and sore. Between working hard on site and getting my butt kicked with PT exercises of all types, it’s a little hard to move sometimes. I know I’ve been neglectful of you all who read this, but I’ve honestly been so busy the last few weeks, I haven’t had time to catch my breath, let alone write an update. Also, internet access is hard to come by at this point, so bare with me.

My teammates and I built this fence.

I finished my corps member training last Thursday after a solid month of lectures. That same day my team, along with five others, drove to New Orleans to take part in our first service project. August 29^th was the five year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and since AmeriCorps NCCC has been very involved in rebuilding after this disaster, and even established the Vicksburg campus to specifically address this issue, about 100 of us went to celebrate the progress that has been made so far and to work towards furthering the rebuilding projects currently going on. We took part the 50 for 5 project, which was headed up by an organization called Rebuilding Together. Their goal was to mark the 5^th anniversary by engaging in 50 home building projects in 5 days. It was really neat to take part in this rather ambitious goal, and it was pretty great to actually get out in the sun and do some work!

Charlie & I

The first day I helped on a project to build a security fence around an older gentleman’s home. His name is Charlie, and he had some stories to tell to anyone who’d take the time to listen. By the end of the day, we were buddies. And though I’ve always known I harbored a love of power tools, my appetite for them was wetted when after getting to use power saws and drills I realized that I’m really good at it.

The site supervisor for this project was a woman from Oregon who had come with her sister and a few friends to participate in 50 for 5. She and her sister have been working in construction since they were little girls, and they really knew their stuff. It was hard work, but I now know a lot about how to build a fence. We had some volunteers from WD-40 come out after a meeting  they were in town for, so we got to supervise and work beside them. It’s amazing how situationally diverse volunteer bases are. People come out of the wood work to be a part of something that’s bigger than what an individual can accomplish, and I think that’s what I love about this type of work. People show up because they want to make things better for their fellow man, and that’s a cause I can get behind.

The second day we planted trees all over the city, and I even got to lead my own group of volunteers: freshman from a local university. It rained all day, so by the end, we were completely soaked and covered in mud. I’m not sure there’s anything that brings people together faster than adverse weather conditions, and as proof of this, my group had a blast.

We stayed in barracks like apartments kept by a United Methodist Church fairly close to downtown, and our curfew was 10 o’clock each night. Since we didn’t finish working and eating until about 7 o’clock, we didn’t have a whole lot of time to explore, but it was enough. I got to ride the trolley down to Bourbon Street, so that was quite an experience. I also got to see a brass street band, which was the only thing I truly wanted to see while in New Orleans. All in all, it was a great trip.

We got to meet Anderson Cooper!

Driving back to campus was a smelly experience, even with Febreeze in the mix. Think of 11 adults who have spent the last three days working in heat, rain, and mud, sharing one shower between them, sitting shoulder to shoulder in a van for 4 hours. Needless to say, my dorm room felt like the Ritz, and it’s funny, but I felt like I was coming home.

Since returning from New Orleans, there have been a million things to do. For starters, we cleaned vans, rooms and dorm buildings at all times of day. We had to prepare for and actively attend a clearance meeting before we were approved by the organization to go out on our first projects. Then there was rehearsal for our induction ceremony, after which we had induction and became real corps members. There was a big party following the ceremony and all kinds of city officials and other affiliates attended. It was fun to have everyone in the same place one last time before heading out on projects with our teams the following day.

I’m now sitting in Mobile, AL and have completed my first 2 days of work, which involved a lot of painting to finish up an older house that has been fixed up by Habit. The lady who is soon to become the owner was suppose to move in last Friday, so as you can imagine, she’s pretty anxious for the work to be finished. I learned how to grout a tile floor and install a doorknob, so I’m pretty elated about my growing list of skill sets to say the least.

Our house here in Mobile is spacious and has a large front porch with two porch swings, which has caused much rejoicing amongst this group of peasants. It’s sort of filthy and disgusting, but we’ll soon remedy that, and we’re excited to add to the murals and quotes made on the walls by other AmeriCorps groups before us. I found a recipe in Mom’s cookbook for baby wipes and all purpose cleaning wipes, so I’m going to buy the ingredients for those this afternoon.

As always, I love you guys and hope good things are happening back home. In my free moments, I’ve been teaching a few of my team members how to crochet, and making sea creature baby booties for my sweet nieces in the process. I’m really loving my team members, and it’s fun to pool everyone’s skills and talents and teach each other what we know. I think I’m going to learn a whole lot this year.   

Painting in my Habitat house. I also learned how to grout!