The overall feeling I get from local residents here is one of utmost gratitude. While they seem to thank us everyday for our contributions I for one can not thank Berklee enough for providing me with this opportunity. It has never felt so good to give back. It has only been two full days that we have been here and it already has been a life changing experience. I have been fortunate enough to befriend seven wonderful people and am looking forward to spending the rest of the week with them working on these homes and exploring this wonderful city. I leave you with this photo which was taken across from the job site.

I learned yesterday that when it comes to building homes, sometimes you’ll raise a wall or install a floor, and sometimes you’ll do what we did most of the day: move heavy stuff around. But that’s okay; by the end of the day, we had organized tools and staged materials for the next rounds of home construction and fence installation. It may not have been glamorous, but every part of the process is critical.

Highlights of the day for me included hearing first-hand stories about the Katrina floods from one of the city’s water and sewer workers, watching musician Edward Lee participate in a ceremony at his under-construction home, and taking the occasional water break with my Berklee builder buddies.

After Edward Lee’s wall-raising ceremony, we were sitting in the shade of a nearby church trying to reach our cab company when a kind police officer who only wanted to go by the name of “Officer J,” offered to give us a ride home in his pickup truck. He said he saw us sitting there, hot, sweaty, worn out, and didn’t hesitate to make the invitation. After everyone else piled into the bed of the truck, I figured I would join Officer J. in the cab, which was, yes, air conditioned. Score. “After what you all are doing for us, of course, I’m giving you a ride,” he told me.

Roya and Matt look at the passing houses from the back of the pickup truck as we travelled through the Upper Nine on our way back from the Musicians’ Village.(photo by C.Jones)

While we drove through the Upper Nine back toward the French Quarter, Officer J had me laughing even while he was telling me extraordinary stories about wading in neck-deep water through his front door eight days after Katrina hit. “A lot of people were going crazy, but I just tried to keep my head on straight, and stay relaxed,” he said.

His calmness paid off in acts of heroism, one of which he told me about. I won’t go into all the details today, but here’s the short version. It was a few days after the storm when he and a few colleagues finally found the time to try to find a friend’s relatives, who they suspected, were still stranded in a housing project where they lived. Once the vehicle hit Rampart St. (the edge of the Fr. Q.), they had to get out and wade toward Armstrong Park, at which point, the crew was able to get a boat and make their way to the other side of the city to find the relatives. But just as they boat floated toward the building, Officer J. and his pals heard shots ring out, so they dove under the water to avoid getting hit. Eventually they found and rescued the friend’s relatives. His act of generosity toward the Berklee crew yesterday was completely unexpected and extremely generous. But considering what Officer J. had been through, his New Orleans pride, and his get-it-done attitude, taking a few sweaty Habitat for Humanity volunteers home was, for him, a no-brainer. We are grateful.

Today’s key for building success: Bring more Gatorade!

We got up early this morning and took a cab over to the Musicians’ Village. The project managers gave a safety talk and then tried to figure out which way to send us. There were several hundred volunteers and it was turning into the hottest day of the year so far (they told us) and they had an event planned for later in the day so I’m not sure they were as coordinated as usual.

Truth is, there was plenty of work to do in both directions!

Some sites have little more than foundations:

Other houses are almost done:

We spent most of the day moving supplies from around the homes near completion to the site just breaking ground.

In the afternoon, the first wall was raised on the 41st home in the project!

In about an hour, we’ll gather downstairs to make our way to the Upper Ninth Ward, where we’ll begin doing our a bit to help New Orleans rebound. In some ways, our trek around the French Quarter yesterday left me feeling like things hadn’t changed that much. Live music blasted from everywhere and folks walking down Bourbon, Decatur, or St. Louis Streets seemed to be, well, enjoying themselves.

At yesterday’s French Market Creole Tomato Festival, we heard Frankie Ford and his band tear through “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” and a few other tunes. We tasted delicious stuffed tomatoes made by renowned New Orleans chef/vocalist Leah Chase, who was doing a demonstration and handed out free samples. This grid of streets near the Mississippi is the part of New Orleans that, for the most part, was spared by the storms of 2005. At dinner last night, we all seemed to be of the same mind: It feels great to be here, despite a sort of eerieness in the air, and we’re all ready to get started. One thing is for sure, it is a lot hotter here. The morning deejay on WWOZ, the local jazz station, just informed the listeners that the city may hit a 30-year high of 95 degrees today. And away we go! It is an honor to be representing Berklee down in New Orleans.

There’s a Persian proverb that comes to mind on my first night in New Orleans: Only when it’s dark enough, can you see the stars. It is the darkness of Katrina that brought me here to see the the light of New Orleans and Louisiana. I am thrilled to be here and honored to be sharing this experience with my Berklee colleagues. I am excited and anxious for our first day of building in Habitat’s Musicians Village and look forward to getting to know the people who will make these houses their homes. ~ Roya

We walked around the city a bit after we checked in to our hotel. More than one building, even in the French Quarter, is in rough shape. But signs of construction are evident as well. Here is the view up a debris chute:

 

Buskers were doing their thing as well:

I am thrilled to be here…the magnitude of what we’re about to do, seeping in, with each “thank y’all fuh comin’ down to help” we get. The woman who sat next to me on the plane just finished volunteering in Musicianville last week. She said, “It’s great so many people are helping out, but prepare yourself. Seeing it in person is very different from when you see it on TV. And I’m afraid some parts will never recover.” “I believe it will, ma’am. I believe.” was my reply. Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Last year, the first home in the Musician’s Village was completed and the new owners moved in! This video shows the work being done as well as the new owners getting ready to move in.

On Friday, before we left, we met for lunch to tie up some loose ends. Here we all are, in front of Woody’s (except Jenna!). It was a great opportunity to get some vital last-minute instructions from Roya, eat some Boston chow, and continue the process of getting to know each other; after all, we’re about to spend a week together.
Plus, we learned a lot of up-to-the-second details about the state of things in New Orleans from 19-year-old George Levines, son of Berklee faculty member Allen Levines. George, who had just returned from Boston, joined us for lunch, at Roya’s invitation, and told us about his four months of volunteer work in New Orleans helping rebuild the city for the nonprofit Emergency Communities. And George was kind enough to snap the picture you see above.