A week after NOLA, finally back to email

I have been out of both cell phone and email range for the past week and while that has kept me from posting to this blog sooner, it has also given me the space to reflect on my experiences in New Orleans. What stands out most to me is the way in which good, honest work has a way of building upon itself. While fetching chairs from the cavernous and overflowing attic at Dibert, I noticed some plastic storage units. Suddenly, I had the new, self-appointed task of distributing these precious commodities to the middle school classrooms. One of the storage units contained a pile some hundred deep of blank envelopes which would now need to go to the office. While carrying those down, I noticed that the borders in the third grade classroom were not done and so another project emerged. With open eyes and the honest desire to help as much as possible, work kept popping up. I began to find the lunch break somewhat annoying--there was so much more to do!

I would also echo Eunice's observation that we, as a group, worked very well together. So well and so efficiently that, as she reported, we exhausted the plans they had for us the first day. Next year, I think they will do well to overestimate all that Team NLU can do when given the chance.

As I mentioned to Karen over dinner one time, before this trip, I lacked experience in volunteer work. Perhaps incongruously, given my desire to teach, I have not historically been drawn to volunteer. So, why NOLA? Why this trip? Quite simply, the opportunity to travel to New Orleans and help prepare schools for the young people soon to arrive combines that for which I feel deep passion--teaching and schools--with a city that is simply magical in its pull. It may be the case that other volunteer opportunities did not combine the content and location so perfectly as this service-learning trip. Suffice it to say that I already plan to go back next year--as long I can be on Eunice's trip.

And, lastly, I realize that there are complexities involved in travelling to a city that has been devastated by natural/human-made disasters with the goal of "helping out." Such a trip can be undertaken with a downward glance and false sympathy that hides the truer sentiment, "I'm glad it wasn't me." Or the journey to learn and help can be taken with humility and the openness of spirit which I felt during our time in the crescent city. On the first night of our trip, I travelled out to Uptown for a yoga class and the owner of the studio mentioned that his brothers had attended Dibert in the 80's and that our work was greatly appreciated. He said that we should keep coming back. I agree.