My apologies for letting my updates slip lately! We've been on the go and busy, busy busy! Also, the internet is down in my room and I'm too lazy to walk the 50ft to the lounge and type one of these bad-boys up... don't judge me.
So lets see, where did I leave off? Ah yes, the YMCA. That trip already feels like forever ago.
Today I officially became an AmeriCorps NCCC Member! We had our induction this morning marking the end of our Corps Training Institute and the start of our first project!! People are traveling to places such as West Virginia, North Carolina, New Orleans and all throughout Mississippi. Some are living in tents for 6weeks while others are living in plush living conditions. I'm going to miss having every here but I'm also very excited to get started at the Vicksburg Military Park.
This past weekend we drove down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for the 5 year commemoration of Katrina in Gulf Port, MS. The drive took 4 hours on the way down and being one of the 5 drivers for the 15passenger van, I took advantage of not driving and slept the first half. We are required to swap drivers every 2hours so I was co-pilot for the second half. We were staying in a house/bunk house of the presbytery and our team was joined by two other teams.
Day One:We awoke to a 4:25 alarm and hustled to get in the vans and make our way to Good Morning America! The night before those in New Orleans surrounded Anderson Cooper's set on CNN so we felt like we had to get on National TV as well! We arrived and sat around for a while until Robin Roberts was ready to give her spiel. We stood in the torrential rain for about an hour and finally she made her way over to our sign and gave us a shout out while yours truly was dead center of National TV!! Boo yah!!
The rest of the day consisted of lead abasement training and then meeting at the high school to talk with sponsors and students about our program. I volunteered as a speaker and spoke about why I joined and then we had some delicious BBQ from The Shed. mmmm pulled pork....
That evening several of us drove over to the Children's Discovery Center where I was in my element! I out little kid-ed every one of those squirts there! It was a two story play zone of science and activities and everything that is good. We had a blast running around and playing with the different areas. One of my favorite things was this climbing structure in the middle of the building that looked like something out of Dr. Seuss.
From there we walked a block to the beach. One of my teammates had never seen the ocean and immediately, fully clothed, cell phone and all, dove into the water. I can understand that. The ocean has a hypnotic draw.
Day Two:
We could only hope the rain would hold off while we scrapped a house to remove the chipping lead paint. We were originally told to scrap both the house and the shed and then after a few hours of that the leader for our sponsors arrived and said "oh wait... we're knocking the shed down so don't work on that." ...awesome.
Once the down pour began we were already cleaning up and then we went back to discuss our thoughts on our work and what Katrina meant to us. One teammate pointed out that all our work seems to be in vain because there is bound to be another disastrous storm and we will have to re-do what we just finished. To that I played devil's advocate and illustrated that the people tend to out weigh that risk with the love for the area and culture. Although there are several months during the year where they must evacuate and worry about losing everything they have, the joy they find in their community outweighs that fear.
On another note (tying back into the work of the day) I'm starting to see the inefficiency of the program. I understand we are supposed to be flexible and whatnot but I find myself standing around and waiting for direction a little more than I care to elaborate. Other than that, I have nothing but good things to say about NCCC and have loved the experience.
Day Three: My team leader (Janelle) and I ran down to the beach to the pier and back and then she and the other team leaders made all the corps members an awesome breakfast!
After my team drove down to a Katrina Memorial where the names of the deceased was etched into a wall that was the same 12foot height as the water that came in from the storm surge. Nex to the names were artifacts that families donated such as a watch or an officer's badge, a child's doll or an old key with a ship on the end.
That afternoon we traveled over to the ceremony where the Governor of MS, Sec. of Homeland Security (Janet Napolitano), the first lady of MS, and several others spoke. There were also several musical appearances and appreciation for the volunteers who have flocked by the millions to the gulf shores to help rebuild and recover. At the conclusion we got several pictures one of which I was able to sneak up next to Miss Mississippi... no big deal. Total babe.
I think that about catches you up on what's been happening... I'm stoked to start working tomorrow but I'm going to miss everyone something awful... best of luck to all the other teams!!
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