Rebel Alliance, Hip Hop Club, and Black Student Union bring aid relief to Hurricane Katrina victims
Staff Writer
After spending a week sleeping on a warehouse floor in sleeping bags and gutting houses, students from Shoreline Community College gathered less than a week after returning from New Orleans to “show and tell” their experiences.
Club Members of the Rebel Alliance, Hip Hop, and Black Student Union clubs spent spring break helping to clean up the much-damaged city of New Orleans. As volunteers, 20 students and 3 staff and faculty members of SCC traveled at their own expense to help rebuild the damage that was left behind form Hurricane Katrina.
The Reality and Impact
PHOTO COURTESY OF DUNG NGUY
Candice Choate (left) and Ndey Ceesey (right) hauling debris out of house
For some students, the reality of the destruction of New Orleans and areas around it set in while working. They said seeing the damage on TV and reading it on the news is much different than experiencing it.
“To really feel it is different than hearing about it and understanding it. For me, what really hit me was the smell of water and the sewage that was left behind. There were houses that people had to live in for a month with four feet of water before officials cam. It was crazy,” said Sintayehu Tekal, one of the traveling students. “There was so much segregation we don’t normally see. It was definitely like walking into a third world country. I’m from Ethiopia, but in New Orleans, there were some places that smelled, looked, and sounded like it.”
Tekal received the most reaction when he shared what he had to show from the trip. From the houses that were still wrecked, in the same area where he said he felt the most impacted from smell, he scooped up a sample of the sewer water into a water bottle and said that to understand what living is like in New Orleans, it only takes a whiff of the smell.
Damage and Rebuilding
PHOTO COURTESY OF DUNG NGUY
At the Common Ground "home" from left to right: DuValle Daniel, Vania Tewelde, and Meichih Change
Houses and other random debris left behind from Hurricane Katrina. Some were appalled by the amount of destruction, despite mass media coverage. Peter Smith, a student, was amazed at the damage that was still left behind months after the hurricane. “When I walked into Lower Ninth Ward, it was like walking into a movie set. It’s like Twister, but you’re standing right on top of it,” Smith said.
Staff member, Du Valle Daniel, was very proud of the work and persistence the group showed. “We accomplished a lot as a small group, but it is something that we now realize that our government and country needs to pay attention to,” Daniel said.
One student, Crystal Jordan, stressed the idea of students realizing their potential to help. “I hope that as a group, we realize that we are the next generation that will be the ones in power to make decisions and create change,” said Jordan. “Don’t say ‘I’m just an individual’ because collectively we made a huge impact, and even as individuals, just being there for the people of New Orleans gave those people hope.”
Adjusting to Life Back
Home It was obvious during the meeting that every student who went had a life altering experience. Most told of how they’ve realized how lucky they were living the way they currently do after coming home. Some re-live the experience every day because of the adjustment to Seattle life. Things that once seemed important are now “trivial” for some.
“When I took a shower the day after we came back, I wept like a baby. The shower, the water everything,” said Jordan. “I felt guilty for being able to do what I was doing. It was overwhelming.” After returning, many students felt the same as Jordan and said it has been rough returning to their everyday lifestyle after seeing the devastation in New Orleans.
Future Plans
Through this experience, many students say that they have grown and that their experience will greatly impact how they will live their future. Jordan plans to help New Orleans refugees who reside in Washington. “I’ll be helping people to vote in Washington for Louisiana,” Jordan said.
Not only did they talk about life and the real world, but students, staff and faculty learned a lot about each other, according to the testimonial sharing. Many students were glad they had the opportunity to learn more about peers they already knew and other peers they met for the first time. “The friendships we’ve gained and the bonds we’ve created with each other are amazing,” Daniel said. “We’ve achieved a lot and should be really proud of ourselves and our accomplishments.”
A handful of students plan on returning sometime this year to New Orleans on their own time to continue to help the city rebuild. A trip as a group may come in the future, as the clubs continue to collaborate on ideas and plans. “Although what we were seeing and experiencing was hard to deal with, the trip as a whole was definitely worth it. It was a personal growth experience,” Smith said.
|
How to survive Thanksgiving with family Millions of American families will embrace and exchange pleasantries as they sit around the Thanksgiving table with turkey and cranberry sauce. Records from a cell phone used by President-elect Obama were improperly breached, apparently by employees of the cell phone company, Verizon Wireless said Thursday. U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed while giving a speech Thursday at the Federalist Society dinner at a Marriott hotel in Washington. Responding to the worsening economic climate, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday in favor of a measure to extend unemployment benefits by at least seven weeks in every state. The kids are burning for "Twilight." |
