University of Virginia New Orleans Journals

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Benjamin Cooper, College of Arts & Sciences

A group of us began the day by traveling over to Jackson

Square, the site of a protest set to precede President Bush's

speech in the area. The protest was apolitical -- a gathering of

people from all over the political spectrum to advocate the

construction of levees that could withstand the fury of a

Category 5 hurricane. We were surprised by the somewhat low

turnout, though we speculated that this was due to the fact that

many residents are still unable or unwilling to return to the

region. The journey also gave us the opportunity to (briefly) see

the Mississippi River and St. Louis Cathedral, both of which

were firsts for many of us. The St. Louis Cathedral is absolutely

breathtaking, from its sprawling mosaics to its soaring spires.

Unfortunately, boosting the New Orleans tourism industry was

not our cause -- we knew that our help was desperately needed

elsewhere. We all piled back into our caravan of minivans and

went to join the other group at St. Augustine. St. Augustine was

located in one of the harder-hit areas of New Orleans, as

evidenced by not only the height of the watermarks (well above

seven feet) but the absolute destruction of the area. Rubble of

the likes one would never expect to see in America covered

yards and roads alike. Abandoned bicycles and toys littered the

curbs, painful reminders of the devastating effect this hurricane

has had on the children of the area. There is something

positively chilling about the X's that mark every house, perhaps

because they put in stark contrast the fact that these

impersonal remains of houses used to be homes to many

families.

The work was winding down by the time we arrived at St.

Augustine, where the group had been cleaning mainly cooking

supplies all day. The priest who tended to St. Augustine and

served as our organizer for the clean-up work was yet another

reminder of the desperate state of need the residents of New

Orleans are in. He was extremely grateful for what we had

done, even though the school still had a long way to go in the

recovery process. From what I gathered from the other

students, he had actually stayed behind with the school during

Katrina, letting in over 300 people to take shelter with him

despite having a minimal amount of supplies and food. As

painful as the bad times have been for the residents of New

Orleans, it is refreshing to know that such overwhelming good

exists.

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