The Highlight

The opportunity to work together as a true team with the St. Bernard's Parish project was the personal highlight of the week. The project was the one place we truly came together as a unified group complete with assembly lines from the strategizing to the measuring tape to the cutting of insulation to the final climb up the ladder and stapling. We worked hard and we worked all day. That was the work I came to do. When I signed up for the Katrina class and the trip I had no idea what kind of work I could or would do. What I did know was that I wanted and needed to give some relief to those directly affected by Katrinas disaster.

Without discounting the incredible and interesting work of the Immigrant Rights group, the issue of day laborers is not a new one. Though New Orleans now experiences an expansive and serious increase in day laborer issues, which, no doubt, was exacerbated by the devastation of Katrina, the day laborers are not themselves a byproduct of Katrina. Many States have seen this issue before and established organizers from across the country have joined to remedy the problem in Louisiana. I do not mean to be misconstrued as claiming that our efforts should not have been expended on the serious issue plaguing workers who are prayed on by contractors, but I do believe that Katrina created a whole new population of people whose lives were directly torn apart by Katrina who are not receiving adequate representation by any elected official or organization established to handle their problems. These were the people I hoped to help, and with St. Bernard's Parish project and my fabulous team members for the day we were able to contribute to rebuilding a home and life that suffered direct and serious trauma.