The Katrina Project :

Friday, December 29, 2006

Photos of the Day

(Right) Max (Fieldston) and Brigette (Trinity faculty) move materials to the roof with other volunteers.

Katherine (Fieldston), Scott (Fieldston) and Adam (TCI) working on a roof.

Heather (Fieldston), Cameron (Trinity), and Bianca (Fieldston) putting dirt on the front lawn of a home.

Posted by ChiaChee Chiu on 12/29/06; 10:29:56 PM from the dept.

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A reflection

December 28, 2006
Katherine Joseph (Ethical Culture Fieldston School, NY)

Musician's Village filled with vibrantly colored homes.
Today was our first day out doing community service, partnering with Habitat for Humanity, building in the Musicians' Village. Harry Connick, Jr., Branford and Ellis Marsalis partner with Habitat to build 78 homes in New Orleans' Upper 9th Ward for displaced families. We worked on location from about 7:30am to 2:30pm, working on landscaping details for the previously constructed houses. After we left the musicians village we drove around the Lower 9th Ward, where the worst of the damage was done. We saw the houses that had been completely destroyed and the deserted neighborhood that people were forced to leave when Katrina hit.

After that, we returned to the hotel to clean up before going out to diner in the French Quarter. We separated into groups to explore the culture (through food!!) that New Orleans had to offer.

The group at an evening discussion of the day.
After returning to the hotel, all three schools got together to reflect on the day's events and what we had learned. We studied two texts, and focused on what these texts stated are the principles of community service.

Becca (Trinity), Matt (Trinity), and Angela (Woodside Priory) engage together in a text study.
We also added our own personal opinions of what the principles of community service should be. One idea that was generated was acting without asking, working without choosing what you want to work on, focusing on what needs to be done. Another idea was integrating ourselves into the community, so that we did not seem like a bunch of kids coming in and pitying the people of New Orleans. We wanted to be the people who came to New Orleans because we could have been the victims of this disaster, and therefore have an obligation to help. Our group also expressed the emotions we felt after seeing the Lower 9th Ward. One very frequent emotion that came up was the anger we felt because of there was nearly no help given to New Orleans after Katrina from the government and the American people. We also felt that if a group of teenagers could do as much as we did in one day, then it was unacceptable that there are still entire neighborhoods destroyed when all the government's resources are available.
Posted by ChiaChee Chiu on 12/29/06; 10:06:52 PM from the dept.

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