In Good Company

Quite a bit of fun today, 

First of to start the day, our wonderful chefs (one of the Cliff Bar folks) prepared us a wonderful breakfast starting with eggs and mushrooms with another baked dish as well as a wonderful salad with fresh mandarins and pomegranates. I had a great cup of coffee with a small glass of Oj and was feeling great by the time we had to meet up as a group. 

By ten O'clock we were all sitting in the backyard of the house. (it was so hot that some of us were hiding in the only spot that was shaded) After a round of brief introductions, each organization got to speak about their company and how they were committed to leaving "less of a footprint" in this world. It was great to hear all of the wonderful work that each company was committed to, and it was also very interesting to see all the similarities that these companies shared with Eileen Fisher. We were all committed to giving back to the communities that we lived and worked in and felt inspired to see so many people, representing so many great companies and being socially and environmentally accountable. 

We spent a few minutes going over some basic house rules (like knock before you enter a bathroom, since none of the doors lock) and received goody bags with swag from Cliff Bar. They gave us all bags, notebooks, water bottles (I used mine so much today), stickers and lists of everyones names and phone numbers. (This proved useful later today when we were missing people at certain points throughout the day)

After this "house meeting" not only did I feel even more like I was in the Real World, but also I felt more accountable and knowledgeable about the work that we would be doing in the next few days. I was amazed by all the planning that must have gone into make this week happen and I am so happy that I can just sit back and let others do all the work (I do this kind of work in most of the volunteer projects that I coordinate back home.) I am truly grateful for all the work the Cliff Bar folks have done to prepare for us to be here. From the house we all got a in depth tour of the areas affected by Katrina. We visited places like the lower nines and got to see first hand, the kind of power mother nature really has. Most of the homes that we went to were still broken down and only a few looked like they had been fully restored. The worst part was when we drove into the lower nines and got to see where the worst of the storm hit. This part of town was were most of the low-income populations lived. It was segregated and most of the population is this area was black. Most of the homes in this area did not exist and instead all that you could see where solid cement foundations and steps and occasionally some remanence of a home (Like a mail box or a bathtub). 

It was hard to drive down so many streets, some of which didn't even have street signs, or traffic signals. Fire hydrants were broken, roads were littered with potholes and we even got to see large pieces of debris sticking straight up in the middle of the street. We were told that so many of the houses had been picked up and swept away and that only a few months earlier there were still houses in the middle of the street. Most of the homes in this area were uninhabited and it looked like an abandoned city. A few people had moved back and rebuilt how/what they could. Tall grasses now grew where only months before 2 or 3 story houses once stood. 

The water/wind damage was more intensive then I had thought and almost found myself crying at a couple of the locations where we stopped. We did feel hopeful about this tour though because of the guides we had. One woman was a volunteer (and has been in NOLA for about 9 months) for an organization called "lowernine.org" A non-profit organization that with a team of volunteers (a group that is constantly changing) rebuilds homes to working conditions to get families that have been misplaced, back into NOLA. Our guide had so much knowledge about NOLA's history including the gentrification of certain areas after Katrina. She taught us about the Bayou and its significance to the people of the lower nine. (I took plenty of pictures that I will post later)

After spending an hour or so at the Zoo for Swamp Days(we got in for free when I bribed the manager with our sob stories and Cliff Bars, thanks Cliff for saving the six of us the 12.50 entrance cost) we ended up back at home with just a few minutes for me to change before we went to dinner.

We had dinner (true Creole cuisine) at a local non-profit restaurant that takes 12 youth (all of which have had issues getting a job or extreme troubles affecting them) every 6 weeks and trains them in food handling, customer service and food prep. All the employees (except for the teacher) were youth age men who served our meals and acted like waiters at a restaurant. I was surprised by their talent after only 4 weeks. The organization takes these "at-risk" youth and places them in jobs, or encourages them to attend school after the 6 week training. Dinner was amazing, Sausage and chicken gumbo, a shrimp dish in a great sauce and some kind of blueberry cobbler. Our night ended with some of us taking politics in the tv room of the house while watching a new show hosted by D.L. Hugely on CNN. 

Until Tomorrow, and more pictures,

Ernesto