Greeting avid readers. This is Nigel and Maddie coming at you with another entry for the Bucknell KRT 2013 blog. At this very moment, I am still in my PJs, eating grits with cheese, and gearing up for our last day of re-constructing houses with St. Bernard Project. However, before Maddie and I go off, we thought we would fill you in on yesterday's experience.
For me, yesterday was another example of why I came on this trip. I am part of the group that is working on Ms. Cassandra's house. On Monday, it took us a while to get the hang of putting up dry wall. Nonetheless, we as a group tackled it head on and really had a grasp for it by the end if the day. As you can imagine, we were looking to a full week of this work, but the dry wall did not come in Tuesday. We were able to get by with scraps so dry wall was a necessity for Wednesday. Well, guess what? It was not enough of a necessity because when Wednesday arrived and. We stepped foot in the house there was no dry wall in sight. I do not mean this in any way as a means of disrespect, but as you can imagine we were disappointed.
In spite of this, this is exactly what I'm hinting at when I mentioned Wednesday was an example of why I chose this trip. I chose this trip in order to not only learn about the struggles of the people of New Orleans, but to be of service to them. Not having dry wall to work with is a small example of the hardships Ms. Cassandra as well as others had and have to endure: being told one thing and having the reality be another. I find it hard to believe they've had to live out of their houses for such an extended period of time. However, they have made the most of it and overcome adversity. What we did in the house yesterday was a small example of that. Despite a lack of dry wall, we were able to accomplish other tasks such as corner beading and mudding. Tough as it was not to do what we wanted or expected to do, we've learned to expect the unexpected. All these tasks add up to the ultimate goal of getting this woman back into her home. As long as we keep this as well as other thoughts of service in mind, we can accomplish great things. It has shown in the past three days. I'm looking forward to the next two!
Hi everyone! I am working at Cynthia's home this week. The first morning, Cynthia arrived to check out her home and its progress. She was so happy to meet all of us and so excited to see the new strides that had been made in her home. Immediately, I knew I wanted to make this home perfect for this woman who has endured so much and yet still has such a positive attitude. I was first afraid of how my construction abilities would pan out like many of my peers were, but we have all learned so much from working with our supervisors and each other that we have come very far in building a new home for Cynthia.
Thursday will be our last day and I am sad to end my work on the site, but proud of the work my new friends and I have done on the floors and excited to bring the house to a finish for Cynthia. Also, Flat Bucky will be joining my team today at Cynthia's and I'm excited to show a part of Bucknell the home.
Nigel and Maddie
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