concluding thoughts

We’re driving down to New Orleans this morning so that we can get the opportunity to check out the conditions of the city as most of us haven’t ever been down there. Even better, we’re spending the night at Hands On New Orleans and there’s even a group of Dartmouth kids working at that base so that will hopefully provide an interesting basis for dialogue and for comparison of how things get done in different relief and community rebuilding groups.

I’m so sad about leaving (yeah, I’m really eloquent, can’t you tell). The biggest internal uneasiness I’m feeling right now is the sense of having learned and gained so much down here yet not enough at the same time. I think many in our group share that sentiment—this seemed to be exemplified in our meeting yesterday with Carrie ’04, Falcon, Mr. Dan, and Ellie. The meeting was a discussion on how we as college students can take our experience down here back to Dartmouth. The predicament most of us seemed to feel was that while all of us agreed that we have learned soooooo much just by witnessing and helping with the community-rebuilding processes in Biloxi and by having conversations and making interpersonal connections (not just with local residents, but also with other volunteers), it’s still incredibly hard to synthesize what we’ve learned and to create a “call to action”, so to speak, with specific concrete steps that we can do while at Dartmouth to both 1) help rebuild the community in Biloxi (better) and 2) to make even longer-termed changes towards the creation of a society of true equal opportunity and justice. See, all of that sounds really abstract, right? Many of us thought so too, and we have only inchoate ideas on how we can even start reaching these goals. All that said (and I’m not usually known as the optimist in my circle of friends) I’m really hopeful about this experience as being the impetus of something much larger in each of our lives. I am excited about keeping the line of communication going with Falcon and Carrie, etc., so that they can guide us in using our experiences and new knowledge in productive and pretty powerful ways at Dartmouth.

All in all, the stories and experiences I got to exchange and share with local residents and other volunteers, the time I spent with the most precious kids at the local Boys and Girls Club and Pass Road Elementary, the incredible fun I had from doing simple things with others at base (making meals, Christmas caroling, doing mold dances and cheers, harassing Helicopter [my personal project]) after a hard day’s at work, were more than priceless. I look forward to future service and learning opportunities that will match, if not surpass, the one we’ve just had. It'll be so kick-ass to return down here.

I would like to close my thoughts by saying that I went down to Biloxi with such incredible peers. I think many of you underestimate your own thoughtfulness and kind spirit. During this trip, I got to know other Dartmouth kids of various socioeconomic, cultural, religious, and political backgrounds yet I sensed the same desire for affecting change. And yes, things got hard at times, and the group dynamics sucked in a few occasions, but such is the nature of putting together a bunch of very opinionated and very willing, smart people (self call! not, lol). Anyways, I’m glad I got to know you all at least a little. Hopefully we can work on some future projects together. And I hope (I'm sure) you guys feel as encouraged as I am from these past two weeks. K, that is all for now. Peace. Huzzah.

~May-Lieng ‘09