Thoughts on New Orleans

The trip to do post-Katrina work in the Big Easy was everything I expected and nothing at all like I thought it would be.

As expected it was:

Hot
Humid
Lots of Work
Wonderful People
Full of Surprise both good and bad

What didn't I expect?

I didn't expect to walk out of All Souls to greet the visiting group of Episcopal Youth from a different diocese and run into my friend Eric Travis. Proof positive of how small our church can be. Add to that listing the fact that Fr. Wright knows my aunt. They got a chance to reconnect when she came to see me one day.

Out of 38,000 Lutheran youth and leaders I didn't expect to even see someone I knew. But I saw Jason Yelder leaving Cafe du Monde while I was there. It was too noisy and we were too far away for me to say hello.

I didn't expect the overwhelming and heartfelt appreciation of average New Orleanians for the work of volunteers to come and help them re-build. It wasn't a polite, quick thank you but sometimes effusive thanks. They would share their stories and emphasize how important volunteers were to the future of rebuilding the city. They would share stories with us and take some time to thank us again. And it happened all over the city, not just in the areas hit hardest.

I wasn't prepared the level of still existing destruction and disorder. This is one of America's great cities and four years later parts of it(large parts of it) are still a mess. I know it's a big project and we were never going to get it fixed overnight. Somehow it feels like we ought to have done better than this. Blame seems to be spread over the city, state and federal levels. I don't care whose fault it is, it needs to be fixed.

I didn't expect to fall back in love with the French Quarter quite as much as I have. It reminds me very much of old European cities in some ways and I desperately want to come back just as a tourist with my lady wife and stroll its streets, listen to its music and eat its food. Yes it's dirty and touristy and all the rest in many places but that's fine. The real world is a little down and dirty.

That may be the biggest reminder/lesson of all this. The world isn't this nice clean orderly place. Suburban Buffalo or life in a small village isn't really reality in some ways. We are blessed, even on our worst days. The worst blizzards I've experienced over the last 25 years didn't do the kind of damage Katrina did. Our lives are very safe and quiet and secure. We should cherish that more than I think we do.


Peace

New Orleans Mission Trip

Wow, what an amazing trip! Pictured above is most of the group following Sunday service at All Souls church in the Lower 9th Ward with thier vicar Linnell Wright. A small group was at St. Mark's, Harvey who opened their parish hall and kitchen to us for dinners.

25 young people and 14 adults went to New Orleans to help re-build after Hurricane Katrina. It's been almost four years now but huge sections of this city are still devastated and un-repaired. There are lots of reasons for it - bureaucracy, incompetence, confusion being only a few of the major causes. All Souls is a church plant by the Diocese of Louisiana that is fired up to be a center for calm, direction and rebuilding in this former blue collar working neighborhood. The church is being established in an old Walgreen's store and was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury during a visit. The challenges facing them are enormous. It was great that we could help in some small ways painting a room in one house, doing lots of drywalling, helping to organize the church itself and get some technology issues resolved (yes, that's what I did!).

We also got the chance to do a little tourist stuff. A trip to the French Quarter including a visit to Cafe du Monde for beignets. Beignets are the ultimate form of fried dough absolutely buried in powdered sugar. They were wonderful! Took a long stroll down Bourbon Street and thought how wonderful it would be for me and my lady wife to spend some time there. Maybe someday.

Some photos coming soon! And some more thoughts about the trip as I process them.

Peace