A group of 33 members of the BMCC community, three faculty and 30 students, converged on Katrina ravaged New Orleans during intersession to assist in the on-going and perhaps never-ending cleanup of a once proud American icon. Recently, most of the 33 came together for a debriefing on the experience and expressed their emotions, thanks, and deep feelings of connection with the displaced hundreds of thousands of members of the New Orleans community.
The BMCC students who ventured off to New Orleans are from near and far, from Harlem, Crown Heights, Manhattan, Morocco, Guinea-Bissau, and the West Indies, among others. They came to New Orleans, wide-eyed, and ready to assist in the clean-up. They didn’t realize that they would be transformed emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, and politically by the human devastation that Katrina brought in its wake.
They were a self-initiating group, made up of activist students, sponsored and driven by BMCC’s Student Government and three faculty members who gave of their time during intersession.
The impetus came from Chris Woods, a BMCC Liberal Arts major born and raised in St. Louis, who saw a great deal of similarity between his hometown and New Orleans. He said, “I had to help the disenfranchised and we needed to look into the mirror and see who we were. We didn’t go down to make BMCC look good but rather to help those who needed help.”
Chris spent two years in Americorps as an emergency responder and was well aware of Hands On New Orleans Volunteers, who since 2005 have been at work every to assist in the cleaning and rebuilding of many of the city’s sections. Chris knew that volunteers were desperately needed to aid the recovery process, and that the Hands On action center in New Orleans provided a starting point for those eager to make a difference.
He became Hands On’s liaison with BMCC’s Student Government Association (SGA), especially its leadership, SGA’s President Krystal Garner. SGA took up the cause and sponsored the trip that attracted three dedicated faculty members, Professor Carl Johnson, of the Social Science Department, Dr. Olivia Cousins, of Health Education, and Anthony Gronowicz, Adjunct Professor in the Social Science Department and official advisor to the SGA.
BMCC’s students and faculty made up part of the gutting teams who work on homes that suffered water damage during the storm. Jason Johnson spoke of the work he did in Mr. Brazil’s house, where the entire interior of the home was removed – sheet rock, insulation, paneling, appliances, furniture and any left over personal belongings. Jason added that “tears came to his eyes” as he was doing the gutting. It wasn’t the tearing and gutting that moved him but rather the life that Mr. Brazil had lost.
The teams also ripped out the flooring and removed all of the nails so eventually sheetrock could be hung properly. Once this process is completed, the home is ready for the mold to be removed.
Trained by experienced mold remediation professionals and indoor air quality specialists, the BMCC volunteer team used a process that cleans the entire house of mold, and helps to prevent re-growth. The studs and walls are scrubbed with wire brushes, the remaining dust is vacuumed, and then teams clean the interior with an anti-fungal solution. Finally, the interior is painted with a heavy duty primer in order to reduce moisture and help prevent re-growth. Christopher Boyo-Fassh said, “I became a specialist in vacuuming and whatever I did for Mr.White, who lost family in the hurricane, gave me the strength to persevere and made me feel I was on a mission.”
Shemeke Tonge not only saw the how human life was violated in New Orleans but was deeply impacted by what had happened to the animals of the city. She talked about how the animal shelters across the whole region were greatly affected by Hurricane Katrina. BMCC’s Hands On New Orleans volunteers assisted by performing many of the tasks necessary for the running of the shelter, such as landscaping, painting, cleaning the grounds and interior, and washing the animals.
Scott Steward, an editor of Voice of the Voiceless, a student newspaper, expressed some of the emotional realities of the trip. “We saw shattered neighborhoods. We could see how anyone could lose faith in government. We saw blocks and blocks where houses were uninhabited. It shed new light on race and class in America. Things in America haven’t changed much.”
That theme was echoed by Robin Winter, BMCC student who said, “So much money has been allocated to assist but yet so many houses are destroyed. So many houses were bull-dozed and so little has been done in 17 months. The culture is obliterated. I want to tell the story.”
Professor Gronowicz echoed those remarks when he added, “I was unprepared for the horror of miles and miles of devastation. I call it negligent homicide.”
But many also talked about how the trip gave them a new feeling of strength of devotion to a real cause in their lives. Ihssane Leckey, an international student from Morocco, said she came back with feelings of satisfaction, fulfillment, gratitude and appreciation.”
Oscar Perez, an SGA Senator and Kaeshaun Lamar Ford, agreed that “were the truth be told we were not satisfied with what we really accomplished but every little bit helps. Both want to return to New Orleans.
Krystal Garner, President of the SGA, thanked every student who volunteered. She gave the faculty members a big thank you and told them, “you took time out and gave us the opportunity to understand that we could do something important.” Some of the students kidded the faculty that they had more energy than the students and they were fun to have around, especially in the evening when they got together to dance and sing.
Nevertheless, Maisy Rodriquez brought everyone back to earth with her words. She said, “I feel selfish. It seemed as if I only helped one person.” She then said the experience was overwhelming, and that ”I sometimes imagine the Hudson River overflowing its banks and covering all of us.” Riann Mitchell a member of SGA agreed with Maisy that the trip was “humbling” and that she felt she was in the midst of a horror film. Alicia Tulsee had an incomplete feeling, she said, but the hands-on work was gratifying.
But Savitri Prashad, a nursing student, made it clear that they came away from New Orleans with hope. Savitra said, “I had a chance to clean Mr. White’s house and it will be rebuilt.”
