-My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Perhaps the most useful aspect of going on a Katrina Relief service trip for only one week is the overwhelming desire to go back. We all recognized the need to be flexible and that everything would not be perfect. Some days, you may not be able to do exactly the type of work you want to do (ie. construction, digging, de-molding, playing with kids, helping mentor local kids), or you might get rained out. But overall we are now all messengers of how much effort is still needed. In much of Biloxi, I estimate that 1/3 of the parcels of land only have a concrete foundation left on them. Most of the rubble was swept out to sea or has been carried away. What the town needs most now and for the next 20 years --East Biloxi in particular--is community-building. Construction-building will continue to plug along, but building confidence in children and hope in adults comes with time and love.
When I walked in to Fatima ("English-camp" for Spanish-speaking kids) today, about an hour late, the whole group was watching a video. Little Carlos whipped his head around, jumped off his chair to come greet me, shot his arms up in the air, and wanted a hug and to be picked up and held. This is in complete contrast to his behavior yesterday when he became so frustrated with me and Kim '06 telling him not to hit the other kids and not to steal their puzzle pieces that he told each of us more that once "Puto madre!" In other words, he informed me that my mother is a whore. After all the kids left we talked to Ana (Spanish Prof.) and Ynez (the awesome woman/teacher running the whole show) about what the heck to do about this. Ana told us to bring Carlos to her whenever he said bad things or hit the other kids, and she would reprimand him in Spanish (which he will understand more clearly and take more seriously, because he knows she will only speak to him in Spanish if it is a really big deal). Carlos squirmed every time we tried to hold him still on Thursday. And on Friday, I held the boy on my hip for at least 3 minutes.
This was not the only progress in the community that culminated at the end of this week. In the afternoon, I went and visited the Community Garden at John Henry Beck Park. Formerly a drug-haven, the park now has a Project Playground/Hands On/KABOOM! Playground, a great field, courts, a small structure that will soon be a police substation (and the only police station on this poorer, lower elevation side of the city). AND it has a Community Garden! About 15 plots are owned and gardened by individuals and local groups and we finished putting down mulch to round out this gorgeous space. I spent a few hours with Karissa and Erin, talking about how they got their project going and what various stumbling blocks they hit. I also got to meet a couple of the plot-owners, and I started to feel like I could actually incorporate myself into a community like this.
The Katrina Memorial
A memorial plaque for Sandra Thornton, beloved friend of Hands On whose house was rebuilt by many Hands On volunteers and AmeriCorps staff. She passed away this year, and shortly after, this poem was found among her belongings.
The 2007 Faculty, Staff, and Alumni Service Trip to Biloxi, MS (First Annual!)
L to R: (Front) Vicki '06/Outdoor Programs, Rosemary (Psychiatry), Jesse '06/Tucker Fndn; (Middle) Janice (Sign Language Interpreter), Ana (Spanish Prof.), Kim '06/Tucker Fndn, Mary (Planning, Design, & Construction), Stan '66/Alumni Relations; (Back) John (Projects/Work Processing), Rob Kim DMS-MPH '05, Stuart Lord (Dean of Tucker Fndn), Freddie '04/Tucker Fndn, Todd '06, Adi (Human Resources)
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