The other team drove down from northern Pennsylvania and we had a rebuilding project set up for them that fell through, so they ended up working on a home that is across the street from where I live. 3 generations live in this small house and their one bathroom had a toilet that was falling through the rotten floor. Steve told me we got the perfect team for the job when he saw that the girls were all wanting their turn to crawl and dig under the house. The team put in a temporary bathroom in the shed and then gutted, redid and tiled the bathroom and laundry room. Me and Tinita (a YWAMer who was volunteering with us that week) grouted it after they left.
The Pennsylvanians joined me for Jambalaya with my New Orleanian family. They got to experience the culture and hear hours of loud gospel and rap music :)
Working at this house was sobering, it has been a while since I've seen this kind of poverty. To be honest, I had a hard time being there because of the smell of the house.
Most of the house we've gutted have been for the poor, but it seems different because it is all flooded, when you are in a home that has not been flooded and yet needs to be gutted, there is something about it that is a lot more troubling then being in a building that nature destroyed.
The grandmother is a strong Christian, taking care of lots of grandchildren, there is no fathers, one of her daughters is in prison, one of her sons is the kingpin of a lot of the crime in our neighborhood and another one her sons has been in the hospital for months.
I think it is easy to live our lives in America without any clue the extent of the poverty and spiritual need that surrounds us in the cities.
Most of the house we've gutted have been for the poor, but it seems different because it is all flooded, when you are in a home that has not been flooded and yet needs to be gutted, there is something about it that is a lot more troubling then being in a building that nature destroyed.
The grandmother is a strong Christian, taking care of lots of grandchildren, there is no fathers, one of her daughters is in prison, one of her sons is the kingpin of a lot of the crime in our neighborhood and another one her sons has been in the hospital for months.
I think it is easy to live our lives in America without any clue the extent of the poverty and spiritual need that surrounds us in the cities.
So now that the teams are gone, it's just me and Steve working together getting things done