Hi from New Orleans! Today was our first full day in New Orleans and, to celebrate, we woke up at the crack of dawn! We were enjoying breakfast at 6:30am, and by 7:15, all of us had boarded our buses to head to the sites we will be working at all week. We went by school or city, with about 15 people per site. Some groups are working on houses; others are planting trees. As we drove around, we took note of how much seemed to have been rebuilt and how much there still was to be done. It was sobering to see large X’s spray painted on the houses that indicated when the home had been searched, and sometimes, how many bodies had been found. Our bus driver explained some of the city’s history to us and answered questions about Katrina. We were motivated and inspired, and ready to start the day.
Our Philly group was dropped off last and we were greeted by Iman and Denise, two Americorps volunteers who are our supervisors for the week. Denise is actually a Temple University student who is taking the year off! They went through the world’s quickest explanation of our job for the day – to drywall the ceilings – and then set us to work! We were divided into three groups of six or seven, with each group taking charge of a different room or area. On the whole, we were completely clueless, but we dove in headfirst anyway. I can only speak for our little group of six, but for us, it was kind of like trial by jury meets trial by fire. Since we were all total beginners, we debated every little detail (“do we cut lengthwise or widthwise first?” “how do we line up the screws with the joists?” “are you sure you measured that right?”), attempting to reason through everything we didn’t know. Eventually some action would have to be taken – the slice of a knife, a mark on a wall, a screw in a stud – and at that point we just had to cross our fingers and hope for the best!
Our group – Carly, Rebecca, Sara, Paul, Hannah and I – called ourselves Team Rasp, because we kept needing to “rasp” down the edges of our drywall boards to make them fit (and also, rasp could stand for “really awesome super people”!). We quickly figured out what we were best at – I loved using the drill to screw in the drywall boards (25 screws in each!); Sara became our official “roto girl” for her skills at cutting out the tight spots on the ceiling using the roto saw; Carly was a magician at finding studs; Hannah was our resident rasping expert; Rebecca was always on a ladder, fitting drywall and drilling away; and Paul, being our only male teammate, was in charge of “being tall” (just kidding – he was our master measurer/cutter). Looking around the house, the other teams also seemed to fall into patterns and as the day went on, we all got quicker and more efficient. At the end of the day, my group had finished the entire laundry room ceiling and part of another; the second group nearly finished a bedroom’s ceiling; and the third group finished the entry foyer ceiling and an entire wall! We left the day feeling tired, accomplished and surprised by how much we had learned and completed!
We got a chance this evening to reflect on our experience as a group and study relevant Jewish texts, including the Shulchan Aruch and Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah. Thinking about our experience through the lens of Jewish views on tzedakah (charity) and gimilut chasiddim (once beautifully defined to me as “divine acts of tender loving kindness”) amplified the experience. Everyone is excited for tomorrow, when we will finish the ceilings and move on to the walls. Later this week, we’ll be “mudding” the drywall (which, I think, means we’ll be spackling). I’m excited for these new experiences and to keep learning about this lovely, vibrant city which has been through so much.
Danielle Selber
