Tears

Kelsey Schuder here - I am leading the Environmental group and I feel so blessed to have had an opportunity to be here for the past week. I knew when the chance was offered last fall to come down to New Orleans for a week it was something I could not rightly pass by. There were times when I regretted signing up for this trip due to the business of my life and time constrictions that being here would stress. There is no doubt in my mind that this was the right decision. While here I have been able to connect with the 9 other students in my group and I have the most wonderful group. We have taken down the ceilings, gutted showers, and sifted through belongings together, cried together, and laughed together. The most impactful time of this trip for me was yesterday while we were sorting through belongings at a woman's home. There were problems with her situation pre-Katrina and I was struggling with the fact that we are just sifting through her storage closet (the downstairs of her home was all storage and it was all ruined). It felt like we were useless because she was trying to save so many things and we all felt they were unsalvagable. I was cleaning out one of the bedrooms which had 6 matresses in it and found a stuffed animal - it was a bear and one I had seen before. My grandma owns one of these bears and it is always out at christmas time. I picked it up, gave it a hug, and began to cry. This situation is so real and could have happened anywhere. The race issue is one that has been brought up and continues to be a struggle but as a professor we listened to yesterday said, "This is an opportunity for New Orleans to rebuild in a better way". Once again I would like to thank all members of my group and say again how blessed I feel to be here.

~Kelsey Schuder