[StBernard] (no subject)

[Westley Annis]

Storm changes lives of volunteers as well as victims
by Lisa Rich/The Times
Thursday January 10, 2008, 3:08 PM

Lisa Rich/The Times

ST. BERNARD, La. -- Driving down Route 46, pieces of insulation and carpet
fly off the back of a fully loaded pick-up truck, landing in fragments on my
windshield. 
The debris is a reminder of a home that is no more -- another example of the
wreckage left behind two years ago by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

I'm headed to see the 25 students from Trenton Central High School who are
here to rebuild a home for an elderly woman in the city, but as I travel
along every block, a disheartening truth is revealed: the devastation in
this area was hardly covered on national television, but the damage is
almost unbelievable.

The remaining houses are abandoned and boarded up; furniture, such as
dresser drawers and baby cribs, still litters the roadways. Rooftops cover
some parts of the road, and families who have come back to salvage their
property sit on their front steps, or on the muddy ground. 

"This is going to be someone's home soon"

Pulling into Gina Drive, though, my heart lifts just as the rain begins to
fall.

"Look at what we've done so far! This is going to be someone's home soon,"
said TCHS senior Mark Boone. Hammering a nail into the frame of the house,
Boone beams in his drenched T-shirt at the work that's being done by the
Trenton students.

The students began their rebuilding efforts on Tuesday, and even though the
home won't be complete by the time they leave Saturday, Edna Guerra, 62,
doesn't care. She's lived in a FEMA trailer for the past two years, and she
considers the students saints in disguise.

Listening to Guerra's story is hard; it's sad enough to make a grown person
cry -- and does as she retells it in front of her family. After losing her
husband, home and all personal belongings in the storm, Guerra is tired --
and thankful.

But it's not just the hurricane survivor who appreciates this experience.
The kids from Trenton tell me they're humbled by the experience. They say
they'll never be the same.

Sitting around me amid pouring rain, the students eat lunch on a concrete
slab. All of the sudden, they tell me, complaining about life in Trenton
seems silly. 

Later Thursday, the hurricanes' devastation will become more apparent, as we
all plan to board a bus and tour the rubble and damaged homes in the Ninth
Ward -- an area of New Orleans locals say was hit hardest by the storms. 

Later, they will travel back to Habitat for Humanity's Camp Hope
dormitories, roughly 1 mile from St. Bernard, to catch up on school work.
But even to the chaperones, their day's work almost seems more important.

"Looking at these kids, there's been so many moments I've had to step back
and try not to cry," said Chaperone Melissa Wyatt. "I don't think any of us
really expected this, and we're seeing the real difference we're making.
It's just amazing."

After a day's work, students share a unifying experience

Meanwhile, back at Habitat for Humanity's Camp Hope in St. Bernard, roughly
30 minutes outside the Big Easy, inflatable cots are packed side-by-side and
portable showers offer limited
hot water.

The 25 Trenton Central students are staying in this dormitory-style
facility, and while it reminds me more of summer camp than a volunteer
lodge, it boasts
a bigger sense of unity than any place I've ever been.

When I asked Bentrice Juno, a TCHS junior, what she's learned about herself
from this
experience, I couldn't help but feel my heart swell a bit when she replied:

"I've got more to appreciate than I thought I did a week ago," she said
softly. "A lot more."

After a long day's work rebuilding a house in St. Bernard's Parish, the
students showered up
and hopped aboard a travel bus to tour the devastation in the
hurricane-battered
Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

I could tell you the devastation here is horrific, but at this point, it
seems everywhere we go the extend of damage is unbelievable.

Seeing this part of the city, however; I almost find myself speechless. It's
been more than
two years since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but in the Ninth Ward, it looks
like the
natural disasters happened last month. Locals tell me if you're not actually
here, it's
impossible to really get it.

Imagine an entire community of houses destroyed, now replaced by muddy
fields still coated
with broken dishes and trash. The only evidence left that houses once stood
in this field
are the street address numbers still painted on the sidewalks. The tour
guide tells us
the houses were under water for more than a month.

When we came upon these sites, silence filled the tour bus. Tears fell from
some students'
eyes, while others struggled to take pictures so they wouldn't forget how
bad it really is.

After touring the Ninth Ward, the students returned to Camp Hope to do
homework
assigments. On Friday, they will spend their last day in St. Bernard to
hopefully
erect walls on the future home of Hurricane Katrina survivor, Edna Guerra.