Work in Progress

Disasters like Hurricanes Rita and Katrina have made such a horrible impact on the people of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Florida and others. But the sad thing is that while these people have been resilient and come back to rebuild their homes and their lives; while they’ve been brought closer and made stronger, people unaffected by the disasters only care for so long.

I’m definitely guilty of this myself. There were cyclones in Myanmar, but I don’t even know what happened and haven’t taken the time to find out or help. When Rita and Katrina happened, I barely contributed anything and until coming here 2 1/2 years later, didn’t take the time to find out the scope of damage and destruction. But I am doing something now, and I feel like it’s at least something.

These trips are always such great learning experiences, beyond Bible study and carpentry work. We drove down to Holly Beach yesterday and saw hundreds of FEMA trailers, slabs of concrete missing houses and boats stuck on land and houses with holes in the roof and mold damage inside. Very few of the houses in Cameron, LA where we’re working survived and many people are still rebuilding and don’t have the money or resources to finish.

The couple whose house we’re working on is very friendly and the wife told us her story today. Videos and pictures will be up soon.