Jeremiah Project |
Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Jeremiah 29:5-7 |
Hey folks,
Today’s blog entry is coming from the rich vocabulary and deep thoughts of Josh and Cam, as narrated by Cam.
The past couple of days we have been working on finishing the tile scraping, grouting and sealing. This was unfortunately our last day both in New Orleans and working on Mr Hammond’s house, but we finished on a very high note. All three units are scraped, the first two are grouted and the first one is fully sealed. For those of you that don’t know, that IS a lot of work, even if it doesn’t sound like that very much. To give you an idea, my hands and fingers still have virtually no sensation in them and my wrists are incredibly sore, evidently my technique wasn’t too good.
Regardless of the pain, sweat and at times boredome from our repetetive jobs, this has been incredibly worthwhile. Yesterday we were priveleged enough to get to meet Mr Hammond. He was literally bouncing off the walls with sheer glee when he saw the tiles since they had been grouted. It was pretty amazing to get to see him after hearing his story and at the same time it left the group on a very high note.
After work today we had a quick debrief session, which allowed us to talk with the project organizers including the representatives from Episcopal Community Services. The project at Mr Hammond’s house is estimated to continue over the next month and will leave him with his own home and two additonal units to rent to young families looking to be re-housed in the 7th Ward.
The project and the work that we have done this week will be both remembered, but also will be continued in the coming weeks, months and years. We recognize that our work has really only scratched the surface of what’s needed to fully rebuild New Orleans, but there is definitely hope. Moreover, it is our hope that the style of work that has started here through the ECS be re-applied across the US and the Episcopal Church. We of course also hope that the Anglican Church of Canada and organizations such as the Primates World Relief and Development Fund continue to promote community development both within and outside of Canada.
Through various highs and lows, we have truly learned the values of community. While we came here as a group largely unknown to one another, we will fly back tomorrow with a greater respect, appreciation and understanding of each other. We do not celebrate our departure from New Orleans, but we do look forward to sharing the words and lessons that we have learned this past week. I am sure that some of us will return, some may not, but what matters wil be how we apply and share our time with those around us. Living in community and in harmony with another is a valuable experience and we as Canadians need to recognize its value at all times. Through areas such as Haiti or New Orleans we see the creation of community through disaster, why can we not have that community at all times?
Let us as Canadians and as global citizens go forth and build houses, live together, plant gardens, eat and feed one another and live in harmony. Through this we will be able to truly say, WE DAT!
