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Day 3: Ziwei’s Take

It’s so exciting to start the first day of work and believe it or not, so many things happened today that was, according to a Chinese saying, 意料之外,情理之中 (unexpected but not surprising).

#1 On the downhill side of the bridge, we witnessed a car accident right in front of us. The car in the front stopped as the red light slowed the traffic, but the car in the back didn’t stop in time and hit the front car hard. Some of us were criticizing the design of the traffic light right after the downhill side of a bridge. Later in the day there were also conversations about the not so good conditions of the roads in New Orleans. I guess besides building houses, there are still so many more things that people have to work on to make it a better recovered city.

#2 Our first project is a house that was damaged by a recent tornado–not Katrina hurricane. The house was also damaged during Katrina, and was restored afterwards. The owners of the house was given two types of insurances: flood or property. They chose the first one due to the frequency of hurricane in New Orleans, but who knew that a rare tornado could take place and stroke their house, leaving them no support to restore it again. Unfortunately, even after restoring the houses and other infrastructures in the city, people and the city are still hurt in many other long-term ways that make them vulnerable in unexpected situations. Recovery is so much more than just building houses.

#3 During the project, we helped with fixing screws with drills, sanding the walls and mudding, and final cleaning. Wooden structure instead of brick or concrete, hand-drilled screw tools  instead of screw guns, grooms instead of vacuums…At first some of us were surprised to see the missing of more advanced designs and tools, only later realizing the limited support offered to both the owners and the charity organization. While we tend to take all the technology and convenience in our lives for granted, this working process really tells us about realizing the situation and helping others in their way.

#4 We really enjoyed Doctor Lopez’s talk about himself experiencing the hurricane, staying in the hospital and helping patients. Staying in the charity hospital in the middle of the city, his experience of the hurricane was less horrible than those we saw in other videoes, which reminded me that not everyone suffered the same in the hurricane due to different living conditions and other factors. However, without having the same story, those doctors still chose to stay, fulfill their roles, and empathize with patients and other devastate people. Such sense of responsibility and professionalism deserve so much respect and appreciation.

-Ziwei

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