Lynn Meadows, Slidell, Louisiana, November 23, Day 3
11/23/2005 17:31
United
Peace Relief
Slidell, Louisiana
November 23, Day 3
Wednesday is the day for our big meeting. United Peace Relief (UPR) wants to work in collaboration with other alternative relief organizations. We invited many people to come to a meeting at Common Ground Collective in Algiers, on the outskirts of New Orleans. Common Ground (CG) has been up and running since right after Katrina hit. They have a distribution center and a free clinic. We have been recruiting medical volunteers for their clinic, where they are seeing about 100 patients per day.
Deborah, Niki and I spent time making an agenda and networking. Niki procured a generator for us from Save Our Selves (SOS). We are going to use it to charge our batteries, to give us some lights and to power the satellite internet connection that Gordon from New Orleans Veterans for Peace is going to hook up for us.
We made our way over Lake Ponchatrain to the meeting a little bit apprehensive about how it would go. I'll tell you now that the meeting was incredible. Many groups were represented including the United Houma Nation, Common Ground, Global Exchange, Code Pink, Veterans for Peace, United Peace Relief, Save Our Selves and more. Each group presented their projects which include, mold abatement training and reconstruction, supply distribution, medical care, legal advocacy, evaluation of the soil toxins and remediating, housing and feeding of volunteers, a training program for locals in reconstruction. It became clear that this is going to be a three to five year project to get the people of this area back on their feet. All of these projects are supported by private funding, with no help from the government.
We all want to work together to support each other. To find out what each group needs and see if we can help them on their way. Even though there are few dollars we do not want to be in competition, we want to cooperate and therefore be stronger. United Peace Relief volunteered to continue to recruit volunteers and provide housing in Slidell if needed.
We had a tour of the Common Ground Collective which is actually Sharon and Malik's house. They have a distribution center in the side yard, solar showers and a meeting space in the back yard. The house is full of bedrooms for the volunteers. They have given up their home to the cause of supporting their community. This week is "road trip for relief". Common Ground recruited 300 volunteers to come and help clean up the ninth ward. They are housing and feeding them, as of today they have already gutted 9 houses, taking out the moldy furniture and sheet rock. They purchase 150 turkeys and distributed them today. Some volunteers are working at the convergence center to prepare a big Thanksgiving feast, to take place in the 9th ward, a street party in a place that was under 20 feet of water.
We made our way to the Common Ground Clinic so I could report for duty. It was a buzzing beehive of people and conversations. The clinic is housed in a neighborhood Mosque. Patients usually have lost their access to health care. Charity hospital was flooded and is permanently closed. The clinic is staffed with volunteers from all over the nation.
We made it home to Slidell after dark and were treated to their success stories for the day. The second bathroom is closed in and functioning. The floor covering was scraped off by Shannon. Bob found an electric lamp in the rubble of one house and hooked it up to an inverter, powered by a car and we had light! It was warmer that night and we slept better. No alligators sighted yet, our tent is right on the shore of the bayou and those nature sounds in the night that I don't recognize, cause me to lie awake and wonder if an alligator is going to take a bite out of my tent!
Slidell, Louisiana
November 23, Day 3
Wednesday is the day for our big meeting. United Peace Relief (UPR) wants to work in collaboration with other alternative relief organizations. We invited many people to come to a meeting at Common Ground Collective in Algiers, on the outskirts of New Orleans. Common Ground (CG) has been up and running since right after Katrina hit. They have a distribution center and a free clinic. We have been recruiting medical volunteers for their clinic, where they are seeing about 100 patients per day.
Deborah, Niki and I spent time making an agenda and networking. Niki procured a generator for us from Save Our Selves (SOS). We are going to use it to charge our batteries, to give us some lights and to power the satellite internet connection that Gordon from New Orleans Veterans for Peace is going to hook up for us.
We made our way over Lake Ponchatrain to the meeting a little bit apprehensive about how it would go. I'll tell you now that the meeting was incredible. Many groups were represented including the United Houma Nation, Common Ground, Global Exchange, Code Pink, Veterans for Peace, United Peace Relief, Save Our Selves and more. Each group presented their projects which include, mold abatement training and reconstruction, supply distribution, medical care, legal advocacy, evaluation of the soil toxins and remediating, housing and feeding of volunteers, a training program for locals in reconstruction. It became clear that this is going to be a three to five year project to get the people of this area back on their feet. All of these projects are supported by private funding, with no help from the government.
We all want to work together to support each other. To find out what each group needs and see if we can help them on their way. Even though there are few dollars we do not want to be in competition, we want to cooperate and therefore be stronger. United Peace Relief volunteered to continue to recruit volunteers and provide housing in Slidell if needed.
We had a tour of the Common Ground Collective which is actually Sharon and Malik's house. They have a distribution center in the side yard, solar showers and a meeting space in the back yard. The house is full of bedrooms for the volunteers. They have given up their home to the cause of supporting their community. This week is "road trip for relief". Common Ground recruited 300 volunteers to come and help clean up the ninth ward. They are housing and feeding them, as of today they have already gutted 9 houses, taking out the moldy furniture and sheet rock. They purchase 150 turkeys and distributed them today. Some volunteers are working at the convergence center to prepare a big Thanksgiving feast, to take place in the 9th ward, a street party in a place that was under 20 feet of water.
We made our way to the Common Ground Clinic so I could report for duty. It was a buzzing beehive of people and conversations. The clinic is housed in a neighborhood Mosque. Patients usually have lost their access to health care. Charity hospital was flooded and is permanently closed. The clinic is staffed with volunteers from all over the nation.
We made it home to Slidell after dark and were treated to their success stories for the day. The second bathroom is closed in and functioning. The floor covering was scraped off by Shannon. Bob found an electric lamp in the rubble of one house and hooked it up to an inverter, powered by a car and we had light! It was warmer that night and we slept better. No alligators sighted yet, our tent is right on the shore of the bayou and those nature sounds in the night that I don't recognize, cause me to lie awake and wonder if an alligator is going to take a bite out of my tent!