Day 7 - Scott - "Apocolyptic"


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"Apocolyptic"

The word for the day. We rescheduled our work project for an opportunity to spend the day with Glenda Waker (pronounced Walker). Nick met Glenda on the airplane. Glenda is woman who lives just outside of New Orleans in Slidell (North of Lake Ponchetrain) . She is lucky to have her home. She and her husband, Michael, both lost their jobs and had to flee their home. Upon meeting them, tey were ammongst the most gracious victims you could imagine meeting. They do not have work, but in addition to dealing with the lose of their jobs they house volunteers that work in New Orleans gutting homes and assist in rebuilding the Luthern Church they attended in New Orleans. We drove to their church. It is a travasty to see the damage that it sustained. However, even if the church was not damaged, there are no inhabitable buildings within a five mile radius, at least.



The sights in New Orleans are more bleak than we ever imagined. We were able to eat lunch at the "Port of Call" hamberger joint, a nice place about 5 minutes from the French Quarter. We talked with a Sherrif officer there. His estimate was the 40% of the residents of New Orleans were now able to return. Not that they have, since few have employment. The parts of the city that were not devistated were barely busy. It seemed odd to be in such a large US city and experienced so little traffic. We were introduced to many of the local sites of intrest.

After our tour of the city we made our way through more of the evacuated neighborhoods. We drove for several blocks with NO SIGN OF LIFE. It seemed like the set of a movie. "Apocolyptic". I can not think of any other word. Had you droped me in the city with out the knowledge of the disaster, my only summations would have either been world end, war, or rapture. Everything is gray, coated with the silt left from dirty water. A few items placed since the flood stick out because they lack the film, like a home we saw that was for sale? The streets are littered with the sheet rock that has been removed from home to prevent mold and cars that were abandoned and floated to rest and left alone. In many cases we witnessed piles of peoples ruined personal effects casted aside with the moldy building mateirals to be place in a landfill or burned.


Most of the homes were left with a water line that clearly shows the level of water in that neighborhood. It seems incomprehesible that this much of a city has been deserted. We made note of all of the FEMA markings. One home did show signs of a casualty. I regretted not having taken a picture, but it seems now somehow uncivilized to celebrate such a finding. We all know of the dead.

While the disaster that stuck the coast of Mississippi seems unparrellelled as a spectacle, the sight of hundreds of square miles of homes left deserted is equally as uncomprehensible. I have felt the tension that has resulted from the inbalanced attention paid to those who lost their homes from wind, and those who lost theirs to water. Having surveyed both, I would not wish either on anybody, nor is there one I would prefer. It is quite obvious that both are in GREAT NEED!

As we have spoken with people regarding need, it seems that there are several tiers of need that range in their level of immiadiacy. There does exist the need for the church to take care of their parrish. Beyond that lies the need of the church to reach out to those in the community. This has begun to happen in some cases, though not all. As a participant in relief, a giver of my own time and talents, I would love to see a more concerted effort by the church to SEEK OUT those within their parish that would have not ordinarily sought, or expected help from the church. This is of coarse a simple observation for a spectator, but it must become a broached subject as the efforts progress if the church wishes to appear relevant "after the flood".

During Nick's sermon on Sunday he mentioned the end of a movie (Volcano if you should care) where a child remarks to an officer that "everybody looks the same". Everybody was covered in soot from the disaster. This is the situation that the church is the South find themselves. I plan on making it my goal, with the assistance of our local church, to assist by consult and encouragement to move towards this end. It is also my impression and experience that it is likely our church will continue to provide aid both in forms of funding and people sending. The walls are down, the borders removed. What greater a time could there be to reach out.

Other hapenings on this day....

All said, we are still having a lot of fun. Everybody is getting along great. We could not have asked for a group more dedicated to our mission here.

We were able to end the day on a high note. We stopped by once more to offer relief in the form of coffee for our friends Joe Chandler and Specialist Jones. This was a good way to end the day.


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