IKAR Teens

Reflections on Day One

Posted on February 17, 2011. Filed under: Reflections, Teen Writing, Trip |

On our first full day in New Orleans we got right to work at Our School at Blair Grocery.  Below, some of our participants describe their day.

Today was filled with dirt, worms, cockroaches, dirt, hoards of red fire ants and more dirt.  However, regardless of the many multi-legged animals and the wheelbarrows and pitchforks full of dirt, we truly learned the ins and outs of sustainable farm life.

Our School at Blair Grocery is the only sign of daily life in the lower ninth ward.  The school provides teenagers who have been lost in the New Orleans education system a place to learn about ways to escape poverty that we saw that was so prevalent in and around the lower ninth ward.  Our School at Blair Grocery supplies the surrounding neighborhood with the only fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables for miles.  The school sells their vegetables to surrounding restaurants and families who would otherwise have to travel 2 miles to the local Wal-Mart.  Today we helped the school prepare compost by sifting, drying and shoveling mounds of compost provided by the local Whole Foods and markets.  We ended out day by building our own dirt sifter wich we used to separate worms into breeding boxes. — H.S.

After our exhausting day of farm work we had a chance to go back and rest up before continuing with our day.  We then gathered together to play some games before our speaker came.  We made life maps.  We contemplated all the things that have led us to this trip and this moment.  We saw that there were many things that helped us get to this day.  We realized that we had our parents, our friends, our experiences and our memories to thank for getting where we are.

James Perry, from The Greater New Orleans Fair Action Housing Center, came to talk to us.  He works for a group that helps fight housing discrimination.  He told us that one of the biggest causes of all the damage of the hurricane was the systematic failure that kept all the lower-income people in the same neighborhoods.  After Katrina, the government created The Road Home program to help people return to the city.  There was fundamental problem with that program.  They gave money based on the value of the home before the hurricane.  The money from that never really covered the repairs that could make homes livable.  In the lower ninth ward there is on a 10-15% return rate.  All across the lower ninth ward there are huge empty lots.  He and his organization are trying to get the government to change the system so that more people can actually return.  He hopes New Orleans can rebuild.  – H.T.

Honestly, when I was in the car on the way to the airport, I thought this trip was going to be pretty much working, praying, eating and sleeping.  But the second I got off the plane the whole thought in my head changed.  Yesterday we arrived at the airport at 10:30PM and when we went to the hostel we went to bed soon after a long day of traveling.  Today, waking up at 6:30AM was a blast!  Not really, but it was worth it for what was coming ahead in the day.  We took our bus to the lower ninth ward to go to our destination for the day, which is called Our School at Blair Grocery.  It was full of plants, dirt and tools.  We got there and immediately started working.  Our first mission was to move dirt from one place to another place.  After doing that for a while, we built a sifter.  We worked all together and when we were done, I really felt that I had accomplished something that will help this community of learning.  We learned so much of so much, especially farming skills.  When we drove through the lower ninth ward, seeing all the houses which were barely still houses, I felt so glad to have everything that I have.  Today really changed my life in just one day, which was so amazing, because I learned so much in such a small space of time.  I know that this day will stay with me for a very long time.  So excited for tomorrow and what all the days have to come! — R.M.

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