Thursday at the International School

Hi from Chris -

The intention for today was to work a little bit then have some time in the afternoon to spend seeing the sites of New Orleans. That's worked out pretty well. We did some more weeding and landscaping in the morning and now we're back at the church and set to go around 2:00. I'm probably staying back just because it's been go go go all week and I could use some down time to blog and catch up on pictures and videos and stuff.

We went back to the International School of Louisiana today. I say "we went back" because this was the site where some of our crew worked on Tuesday - the site where Usher showed up. What remained was more weed wacking and lots of pulling of weeds in the asphalt of the playground area. We also did a little spray painting and put down some landscaping fabric overs areas they intend to cover with mulch.

The school never reopened after the hurricanes but the hope is that they can have it ready for the fall. We met with the former head of the school, Tom, the head custodian, Robert, and another school employee, Joe. All of them were very appreciative of the work we were doing. Tom is retired from the school yet he was there on his own time to see to it that the school will be functional in a couple of months. All three guys couldn't thank us enough for the work we were doing. They treated us to lunch - take out sandwiches from a cafe across the street - to show us their appreciation.

While we were working on the outside of the school, there was a group inside doing some mold removal. I went in and immediately found out that none of them spoke any English. So I tried a little bit to converse with some of the workers. About all I found out was that they were here from various places including Honduras, Nicaragua, and Mexico. After lots of stubbling around, their supervisor came and talked with me. They are from a group (I can't remember their name) that specializes in mold removal. They go from city to city gutting houses and removing mold. The gal, Ivy, said that they have been in New Orleans ever since the hurricanes. She said how hard-working the group is, how they are just trying to survive and provide for their families like any of us. An interesting example of foreign workers doing good in our country - doing work that most Americans wouldn't choose to do.

The International School will be a Spanish/French immersion school when it opens back up. Tom, the former director, was a very nice guy and extended the invitation for his school and our schools to maintain contacts and create partnerships once we're back home. He won't be working at the school any longer, but said that he and his wife intend to do a lot of volunteer work there. The school is a long way from being ready to open. Let's hope they can get it together by September.