Another day in the books, another day of accomplishment

Another day in the books, another day of accomplishment.

We are working in two groups, which we call the Spain House (as it is on Spain Street) and the East House, in New Orleans East. Two groups with Norm and Lee head to New Orleans East and the other three teams stay at Spain with Steve in charge.

At the East house the thing to know is what you see when you drive there. New Orleans East was built post-WWII when the swamps were drained, and it stretches for miles along the lake with sub-division after sub-division of new housing. The houses are solid, middle class. And mostly empty. Maybe one in ten is occupied. On Read Avenue we see Chase Bank, Macy’s, Walgreens, all closed. Wal-Mart, closed. Payless Shoes, closed. Abrahamson High School, closed. Grand Theatres multi-plex, closed.

In the house on Grant Street had we are pulling down the ceiling (on top of each other), ripping down the dry wall, pulling nails, and cleaning out the bathroom tile. We also have to remove the wiring. The light switch boxes are in decent shape, but the power outlet boxes are always rusty. So we can tell how high the water rose. The familiar “bath-tub ring” of high water marks on the front door suggest about four feet of water, for a long, long time.

The big difference on Grant from the Spain house is there is no power for a fan, and it is dark, very warm, very humid, with no air moving. Feels like the sauna at Youth Retreat. Five or six youth – Sam, Anna, Sarah K, Kendall, Natasha, Marit – spent much of the afternoon in a small airless room pulling down the ruined dry wall and tile. Tough duty for anybody, no matter how tough. Mollie, Rosie, Carolyn, Graham, Simon, Kristin pulled down the ceiling. Simon and Graham helped. Walter trucked refuse to the street in a wheel barrow until he nearly dropped.

The copper wiring we placed on the refuse pile was there maybe 25 minutes before the first scavenger pulled up. Another scavenger, a family with an old pickup and trailer, got most of the second batch of wiring and picked through the rest of the refuse we had just dumped on the curb. Life is hard in New Orleans East.

On our way back to Parkway and the blessed four minutes we have allocated for the showers, we roll past the vacant stores, the vacant houses, the closed High School. And no one speaks.

Lee