biloxi, mississippi

i'm back.

it's been a crazy, unbelievable, incredible, moving month (more or less). the last week was so powerful that it almost discounts all the previous weeks. this post is going to be all about my spring break trip to biloxi, mississippi. even though i am skipping the whole month before the trip, i am going to talk about the past week because it is fresh in my mind and also because it is far more important then anything else. and i mean that.

i left last sunday morning for biloxi, mississippi. i staffed a trip for hillel students to help rebuild the area, which was devastated by katrina. as i am sure most of you have, i have seen a lot of post-katrina photography and was expecting the scenery there to elicit a similar reponse from me. i had no idea the images i was in for. anyway, back to the trip play-by-play...

we arrived at the gulfport airport, which was actually far larger than i had envisioned (by large i mean there were 6 gates). after heading to the thrifty trailer to pick up my soccermom-esque minivan, it was off to our campsite. the texas group consisted of 17 hillel students, me, and margo (my boss). but overall, the hillel group (from hillels from all over the country) was about 150 people. we worked in conjunction with the PDA (presbyterian disaster assistance), living in their tent village. but these werent just any tents, they were "pods." i guess its just a cool way of saying cardboard/plastic tent things. i managed to snag a pod with dorie--my closest JCSC friend (aka: my wife--se photo at left). the cots were less than amazing. actually, less than horrible--as were the porta-potties and the kosher vegetarian food. good thing we were able to make a nightly run to the local walmart (see bregger on the kiddie car) for good snacks and protien sources, including but not limited to tuna packets. if you havent experienced tuna packets, you need to go check out the tuna aisle.

each staff member had a full car of students with them for the week. i was blessed with a great group of students--fun, FUNNY, and hard workers. i was also lucky enough to be paired with 2 other great groups on one roof. we had such an amazing time. i now pretty much know how to de-shingle and rebuild a roof. i wasnt, however, able to do much because i broke my finger a little over 2 weeks ago (more to come on this later--check back in a few days for a blog post about this). but, i did such a great job keeping my wonderful workers hydrated, sunburn free and full (from lots of snacks--from our favorite local store, the family dollar store). one day we took a midday break to eat at "le bakery." i figured it would be a french sandwich shop. but it was actually french vietnamese. vietnamese sandwiches are amazing...or maybe i was just really excited to be eating chicken. no, they really were delicious.

on wednesday, all 150 of us boarded buses and headed to new orleans. we started with a bus tour of the area to see the devastation. then we toured an orthodox synagogue that was completely wiped out by the water, after the levees broke. then we got a few mins to check out the (mostly back to normal) french quarter and eat bignets at cafe dumont. we were also warmly welcomed by the tulane hillel students with a dinner and games.

after lots of shingling, singing and dancing, sweat and ladder climbing, we finished our roof. the owner--an 82 year old woman--came to meet us. she was so grateful and cried as we said the shechecheyanu (a prayer). it was very emotional and moving. i was so proud of my students for their hardwork and empathy for this woman.

on friday our group was lucky enough to go to a local elementary school. we got to meet the kids, hear their stories and just have fun. it was a nice change to see life as "normal"in biloxi. it was like an escape for these children. but the thing is, life may never be back to normal there.

they say the process of rebuilding will take at least 10 years. but, this is assuming there are no more hurricanes. this is simply not the reality. and its disheartening, frustrating, sad and tough to think that the roofs we built may not even survive this hurricane season. i cannot imagine the devastation that will rock this region if another hurricane tears through again this year, just when the residents were starting to get back on their feet. well, they wont yet even be back on their feet. but they may have fixed their roof, picked up debris and gotten settled in their fema tralier. but a trailer cannot hold up in a hurricane. so then what?

the thing that was most devastating about mississippi was not the depth of destruction on each house. it was not that total houses were gone, washed away. the unbelievable part was that this destruction goes on seemingly forever--mile after mile, community after community. it really doesnt end. it's the breadth of destruction that is so unreal.