The past few days: A Christmas Carol, lots of paint and potential future volunteer efforts...
Of course it sounds cliche, but I can't believe the trip's coming to an end. We have two days left here and then fly out of New Orleans to return to hometowns across the US, to celebrate the holidays in a much more holiday-like environment for all of us. I mean most of us have at least a little bit of a disconnect between warm weather and the holiday season (minus Overton maybe) but it's not just the weather that throws off the 'holiday' feeling down here. The only places that are decorated for the holidays it seems are the casinos which have taken over so much of the coast that was lost to the hurricane, and have been immediately rebuilt. The Beau Rivage talked about two entries down was built up as fast as possible it seems and opened on the 1 year anniversary of the hurricane. It's great as far as the jobs that it provides, but is such an odd thing to be in the middle of such desolate surroundings. Especially right on the shoreline where there are still smaller chain hotels that have not made any progress in rebuilding.
Yesterday, I spent the entire day painting at Mr. George's house. This house is really special to a couple of long term volunteers because they have been working on it from the ground up and now it's at a phase where we are painting the interior walls and putting up siding. Gaby and I spent hours inhaling paint fumes and getting it all over ourselves, but definitely enjoyed it. The only part that might not have been enjoyable was this tiny little closet that was probably 2 by 1.5 feet and needed to be primed all the way up to the ceiling, and part way up it became an enclosed box. Poor Monica got her hair covered in paint because she was the only one tall enough to reach the ceiling in there. But really, it was a great day. A certain Luc down here is consistently hilarious, and being the leader of our team, made everything laughable. I guess Mr. George asked him to put up an American flag in the front of the house and Luc assembled it and then ran down his street with the flag while I almost fell over laughing.
Backtracking a little, on Friday, Dan, Eli and I went to the production of A Christmas Carol that was put on at the Biloxi Little Theater with the help of 6 or 7 Hands On volunteers. While the older kids in the play did a great job, probably the best part was the 5 and 6 year olds who tried so hard but just kept us laughing the entire time. There was one little boy who probably evoked the most laughter. He kept waving at the crowd and sang very loudly during all the carols and completely tone deaf. The kids sang pretty well too, and I remember Silent Night particularly, hearing his absolutely and completely off key little boy voice coming out of the chorus. Then occasionally he would jump up and down in excitement and pull out his dance moves at interesting times. What a riot. It was a great production and afterward the high schooler who played Bob Cratchitt came up to us and asked if we were with Hands On, then wanted to shake every one of our hands and thank us for everything we were doing. We've been thanked by so many people, but each person who individually takes the time to say something touches my heart again and again, and that is definitely something I'll take back with me.
Thursday a few of us went to the Mississippi Center for Justice to talk with some pro bono lawyers who are managing so many cases right now, probably a majority of them related to FEMA reimbursements that are nowhere near adequate. We had a half hour appointment with one man, were 15 min late, ended up waiting an hour and then talking with not one but three lawyers for just about two hours. I think they could really see how we wanted to keep up and possibly change the some of kind of volunteer work that is going on down here. As many people will keep doing construction work, it is important to consider the other traumatic impacts of the hurricane. Psychiatry/psychology is apparently the number one health need here right now. I'm trying to figure out how to bring my dad-a psychiatrist-in the spring; how we could make an impact in ways other than gutting, molding, framing, drywalling, siding and painting houses. We'll see how that works and I definitely plan to be back here come spring break.
Elysa Severinghaus '09
Yesterday, I spent the entire day painting at Mr. George's house. This house is really special to a couple of long term volunteers because they have been working on it from the ground up and now it's at a phase where we are painting the interior walls and putting up siding. Gaby and I spent hours inhaling paint fumes and getting it all over ourselves, but definitely enjoyed it. The only part that might not have been enjoyable was this tiny little closet that was probably 2 by 1.5 feet and needed to be primed all the way up to the ceiling, and part way up it became an enclosed box. Poor Monica got her hair covered in paint because she was the only one tall enough to reach the ceiling in there. But really, it was a great day. A certain Luc down here is consistently hilarious, and being the leader of our team, made everything laughable. I guess Mr. George asked him to put up an American flag in the front of the house and Luc assembled it and then ran down his street with the flag while I almost fell over laughing.
Backtracking a little, on Friday, Dan, Eli and I went to the production of A Christmas Carol that was put on at the Biloxi Little Theater with the help of 6 or 7 Hands On volunteers. While the older kids in the play did a great job, probably the best part was the 5 and 6 year olds who tried so hard but just kept us laughing the entire time. There was one little boy who probably evoked the most laughter. He kept waving at the crowd and sang very loudly during all the carols and completely tone deaf. The kids sang pretty well too, and I remember Silent Night particularly, hearing his absolutely and completely off key little boy voice coming out of the chorus. Then occasionally he would jump up and down in excitement and pull out his dance moves at interesting times. What a riot. It was a great production and afterward the high schooler who played Bob Cratchitt came up to us and asked if we were with Hands On, then wanted to shake every one of our hands and thank us for everything we were doing. We've been thanked by so many people, but each person who individually takes the time to say something touches my heart again and again, and that is definitely something I'll take back with me.
Thursday a few of us went to the Mississippi Center for Justice to talk with some pro bono lawyers who are managing so many cases right now, probably a majority of them related to FEMA reimbursements that are nowhere near adequate. We had a half hour appointment with one man, were 15 min late, ended up waiting an hour and then talking with not one but three lawyers for just about two hours. I think they could really see how we wanted to keep up and possibly change the some of kind of volunteer work that is going on down here. As many people will keep doing construction work, it is important to consider the other traumatic impacts of the hurricane. Psychiatry/psychology is apparently the number one health need here right now. I'm trying to figure out how to bring my dad-a psychiatrist-in the spring; how we could make an impact in ways other than gutting, molding, framing, drywalling, siding and painting houses. We'll see how that works and I definitely plan to be back here come spring break.
Elysa Severinghaus '09
posted by Dartmouth in Biloxi at 12:29 PM
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