Ms. Shirley and the Gang

Today we got to work in the lower 9th ward, which is just on the other side of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet(lovingly referred to as Mr. Go.). In this area they just got their water turned back on three weeks ago and you can see holes in roofs where people had hacked through from their attics to get to higher ground.

Before getting into the house we met Ms. Shirley, a sixty year old woman who owned the house, and 4 of her 8 grandchildren. Four rambunctious yet polite boys-- two of whom had lived in the house. We fitted them for gloves and masks and began looking for a way to get into the house, which had been boarded up. We broke into the back door and stepped into a mess of insulation, ceiling, furniture, electronics, trophies.... so we carried and hauled the contents of their house to the street, breaking apart sofas and piling up insulation.

Ms. Shirley said there was a time when she was set on never coming back to that house. She said she was always planning on coming back to New Orleans, but didn't think she had the strength to come back to the house. When she did decide to come back she started having dreams of how the house would look, thinking about the additions she had always wanted to do. Ms. Shirley told us stories of all the family, friends, and strangers who she had welcomed into her home before she had to leave. Saying she was worthy of help is an understatement. She has such a heart for community and it brings hope to me to know that someday she will be living on that corner again. Inviting strangers to come and sleep in her rooms.

Later I'll upload a picture of the five of us with the 4 boys and Ms.Shirley. This was the only picutre I took because the Episcopal ministry here asks the volunteers not to take pictures because the people of New Orleans already feel like they are living in a zoo. I didn't quite understand what they meant, after all I am just trying to pass along people's stories. But today we saw a van full of tourists who had paid 35$ dollars a ride to take pictures of the destroyed and deserted lower 9th ward. None of that money will go to the people they are exploiting, the people who need it.