I am involved in Michigan Community Scholar Program(MCSP), which is a resident-hall based learning community program. This past week (spring break week) 14 students from MCSP went down to New Orleans not for the marti gras (it was over by the time we got there anyway), but to help improve the damages done by the hurricane Katrina 1.5 years ago. It's sad, but we saw with our own eyes, how little it has been done with the Katrina damages, especially in the poor neighborhoods of New Orleans.

Nineth ward has not been touched at all it seemed.

We gutted the houses for a week, some of us did chores such as landscaping, roofing, denailing, and so on. It was a physically demanding week, but the lessons we learned from there shall not be forgotten. As a college student who's struggling through exams, papers, and quizzes, being there for a week and doing all the hard works really put things into perspective. What I'm going through, and what I thought was difficult to deal with seemed so trivial (I mean it) compared to what the victims of katrina went through. And I must admit that it is I who is thankful for this opportunity to make a small difference in lives of those people. It may sound so cheesy, but if you think about it, what did I do to not deserve what those people suffered through? Why was my home on a level ground when the homes for these people just disappeared, leaving only the foundations? Why was my graduation album safe and not torn, when the memories of thousands of people were ripped apart in disgusting molds? I must say I am thankful that I had a time and money and healthy body to contribute to the community of New Orleans for the past week, which could have been easily wasted with late nights and sleep-ins.
So, there, it was one heck of a week that I shall always remember and tell people about.

This post was originally written by Hyun-kyu (Jason) Kang
University of Michigan · Mathematics · 04 Mar 2007