Day in the Life of Destination

Our experiences so far this week have been inspiring. Inspiring us to continue to keep working hard throughout this week. We woke up slowly and prepared for the warmer than Wisconsin weather with layering on the sunscreen and packing our hefty lunches. Today we continued to work on Miss Sarah's house; leveling the yard, hurricane proofing the roof of the house, and creating a drainage system near and under the deck. To our surprise, Miss Sarah and one of her three daughters visited and brought the crew some New Orleans shrimp Po-Boys and some classic Popeye's Chicken. We sat around and enjoyed the food, but more importantly appreciated Miss Sarah telling us more about her story.
We asked her many questions about life throughout Hurricane Katrina; her Superdome experience, getting in contact with family, why she came home, and many more. As she was heading to the Superdome, she felt so confident that the hurricane would pass, she left the TV on expecting to return to daily life the next day. She said the ordeal was horrifying and the worst experience of her life; not being able to contact family or friends. Her daughter finally heard from her after a week, and expressed how thankful she was that her mom was alright. Katrina hit in August, but Miss Sarah did not get a chance to return to her house until March. She has been waiting six years to have help rebuilding her house, and she can not express her gratitude wanting to return home. She told us today, that she has already started packing!
When looking at Destination, the back of our shirts say a lot about our purpose and goal that "It is not a vacation it is a process of self-discovery. It brings us face to face with the world. A destination not only shows us the world, but how we fit into it." As the work week is coming to the end, we realize how much we have made an impact on Miss Sarah and her family, but yet there is so much more to do in New Orleans. With working in our groups this week, we have made new friendships, but also brought out new strengths in each other. We want to continue this one week of change back home, and this experience will stay with us forever.