Oracle Online

After meeting at Hamline for two weeks, the group of 17 students, three staff members and Embser-Herbert herself were headed to the Gulf Coast for nine days of learning and participation in the relief efforts.

Day one was spent in New Orleans, where students first met with those who have been working on efforts to rebuild. Volunteers, including the Common Ground Collective, told the Hamline students what they could expect to do and see while working with areas hit with hurricane damage.

Afterward, the group was taken on a sobering bus tour of the Ninth Ward. Tours like this are common in the area, and some people worry about the risk of exploitation. Many living within the area, however, feel that the tours will have a positive effect on donations and relief efforts by allowing viewers to see just how bad the damage still is, despite the months that have passed since the disaster.

“It felt like I was seeing the hurricane unfold before my eyes,” Kate Bernauer, a student who went on the trip, said. “Although photographs and coverage I had seen before traveling to New Orleans were very moving, they did not in any way compare to the emotion felt when witnessing the effect of the damage.”

It seemed to have the same effect on the others riding the bus, as well. “Driving past the devastation in Biloxi, you could’ve heard a pin drop,” Embser-Herbert said.

The next morning the group rose to begin the work they had flown down for, to get first-hand experience with relief efforts by lending their hands (and muscles) to the rebuilding process in Mississippi. Many of the houses in the area they worked weren’t directly hit by hurricane winds but had significant surge damage.

The frames of the houses might still be standing, but severe flooding had ruined belongings and caused damage to the interior walls and floors of the structures. The group removed sheetrock, flooring, and walls to take care of extensive mold growth only to discover, sometimes, that there was mold-infested insulation they would have to remove underneath.

Pictures of this can be found on the blog the group created to document the trip, entitled ‘Minnesota to Mississippi.’

After walls, floors, and a ceiling or two were torn out and removed from the house, it was hard for the group to accept that it would be months before more work could be done on that house. Because of the health risks mold poses, affected areas must be bleached and left to sit, to ensure no mold was left and that it will not grow back.

Kari Scholen said it was difficult sometimes to see the frames of the houses standing so bare. “I came up with thoughts of who lived there, what they did for fun, and how this was their place in the world. Now it was an empty house without walls and no protection,” she said.

Others were surprised by the amount of time needed to fix just one house.

“I can’t even imagine how long this whole process is going to take... surely that time will be measured in years,” Raissa Schnitzius said.

For some, though, it was the emotional aspects of the trip that took more strength than the physical ones.

Much time was spent sorting possessions scattered through the houses into two piles- one to keep, and one to throw away. While sometimes residents would help, it often took time to ask the owners to keep anything, even if it is something they would regret losing later. Many are still too overwhelmed, and the process of going through their house deciding what to keep seems too taxing to take on.

Residents get into a ‘throw it all’ stage because starting from scratch seems easier. This meant a lot of volunteers had to make gut decisions about what to keep and what to throw, convincing residents to hang onto things that have sentimental value, including photographs and a bronzed baby shoe.

Despite the hard work, which was demanding both physically and mentally, the group feels that it was an important experience in their lives. In fact, many wanted to stay and continue working on relief efforts. Some are already planning return trips, including one young woman who is trying to convince her friend to cancel their spring break plans to work on the relief effort.

Embser-Herbert is heading back in April with hopes to deliver the ten-dollar Target gift cards she is currently collecting from the community, many of which are being donated by students, faculty, and staff. She wants to do this because often Katrina survivors will have food and clothing, but won’t be able to buy the things that once made their lives easier. “What happens if you just want to be able to buy your child a birthday present?” she asked.

Brianna Judd said, “The selfless action accomplished through service brings on a new level of humility which opens the door to learning well beyond the classroom╔ We are in no way whatsoever better than those we serve.”