In my family, it was normal procedure to complete the confirmation program at my church. To be perfectly honest, I really wasn’t looking forward to it. It wasn’t the required volunteering hours I was worried about, I had been doing that all my life. It also wasn’t the getting up every Sunday, I could manage that. It was the social anxiety I felt. Around my friends, I’m extremely outgoing, but when I’m put in a position where I don’t know anyone, I tend to shrink into the crowd. My church was in the town over, so none of the kids attending go to my own high school. I was nervous. I stepped in the room the first day, only to find out that even though I’ve known these kids all my life through church, I’d never really talked to them before. The fact that they were all best friends outside church, worried me even more. I sat down, keeping to myself. As the weeks continued, I made conversation but nothing more then what was needed to make it through the class.
I remembered that every other year, my church’s confirmation class goes on a mission trip. My class happened to fall in a year where one of these was going on. Since this was right after Hurricane Katrina, it was obvious our mission trip would have something to do with that, and I was right.
Our trip to New Orleans would take place on our February vacation. As much as I wanted to spend the week having fun with friends, enjoying the time off of school, I knew that in the end, this trip would be much more rewarding. I was excited, we were leaving on February 18th, and a reporter from the Providence Journal would even be taking this trip with us. And though it was supposed to be a trip for our confirmation class, it turned into a trip of 35 people, ranging from age 11-81.
As I pulled into the parking lot of my church around 5:30 my anxiety hit me again, what was I going to do about not knowing anyone. I was relieved to know my uncle and their family’s foreign exchange student from Germany, Michaela, were attending, but I knew I would have to face my fears of having to socialize with this group of kids I didn’t know.
The trip down to New Orleans was a two day ordeal. I got on the bus and sat in the back, behind my uncle and Michaela, many seats away from my other confirmation classmates. My trip had gotten off to a bad start, and I was frightened that my whole trip would go this way.
This first night we stayed at Little Farm Church, in River Ridge, La. We slept on airbeds and sleeping bags and awaited our second day of travel. We were roused at 5am to repack our stuff and reboarded the bus.
I sat there in anticipation of the sites I would be seeing in the next week. I had watched the new about the aftermath of the hurricane, but I knew it would be nothing compared to seeing it in person.
The first morning of our New Orleans trip, we awaited news of our job sites. I found out that we would be split up, and each group would be working on one house. At the first house, the roofers got off to put on a roof, and I didn’t get a chance to hear much about this family’s history. But at the next house, the house of Willard H. Hill Jr. a lawyer, I got some insight on a true New Orleans story. No one was allowed to return to their homes for six months, so this was the first time Mr. Hill had returned. The heartache in this man’s eyes made your stomach tighten and your eyes burn with the feeling of welled up tears. He said "I take it as a sign of hope.” The thing that really got me, was the sign outside a house across the street that read “Goodbye N’awlins, We’ll miss you!”
Half of my confirmation class got off here, and because of all the furniture remaining in the house, they had to wear protective jumpsuits, goggles, and masks to protect them from the mold. My group continued on.
We were stationed to work at a church parsonage. We met the owner of the house, a very kind hearted man, Pastor Wilmer Brown. He had removed the furniture in his house already, and now we needed to pull up the floorboards and remove the mold infested walls.
I was shocked as I had a conversation with one of my confirmation peers, Alicia, to find out how alike we were. As we worked on the house, we discussed everything from school, to family, to love lives. We told each other our insight on everything we had seen the past few days. It was New Orleans that gave me the courage to open up to my confirmation group, and take down my wall, allowing me to make a friend for life.
We also took a trip to the area of New Orleans that had everyone talking, the Ninth Ward. This was an area said to be filled with crime. It was also the worst hit place of New Orleans, though I do not believe in any way that this hurricane had been God’s way of punishing the citizens, this was merely a tragedy of nature that couldn’t be avoided. The Ninth Ward was in ruins, I saw doorsteps leading up to nothing, cars underneath houses, and even children’s toys scattered about the place. It was the most heartbreaking site I had ever seen in my entire life. We even talked to some police officers who said that they had gone through 3 pairs of work boots in the past month because of the chemicals eating the rubber away.
The most home hitting part of our trip to me, was when we heard first hand the stories of students and teachers at St. Stephen Catholic School. We saw each student take their turn to spill to us their stories, one girl even bursting into tears about her still missing uncle. It was painful to hear, and I, myself even cried with them.
We ended our week at a high note, taking part in the legendary Mari Gras parade. It was fantastic to see the citizens celebrating, as if to say “Hey, we’re here and we’re going to make it.”
I wish I could explain to you the impact this trip had on my life, but there is no way to put it into words. I got to see how it truly is in New Orleans. I got to help people who lost everything, and their appreciation was the greatest reward I could have ever received. I met people who shared more knowledge with me, then any teacher ever has. I made friends, who even though confirmation is over, I still hang out with and are a huge part of my life. It’s funny how I walked in there, knowing no one and understanding so little, and I walked out with a heartful of good friends, and a brainful of insight from some of the bravest people I have ever met.
(That's me on the left, and Alicia on the right)
[image]local://1841/2D648F350B804B00807BA4ECB9543A8E.jpg[/image]