Today, January 9, 2011, was an incredibly eventful day in Bonner sense. Britt sent us on a scavenger hunt of a most convoluted nature, which resulted in a wonderful bonding experience with our respective teams. One of my favorite tasks of the day was to get a stranger to make a human pyramid in front of the largest church in the city (Team C claimed success, I might add.) At the end of the game, I found out a lot about the streets and stores in New Orleans as well as the genial nature of its people.
However, thought the first half of the day was light-hearted and fun, as Bonners, we never stray too far from reality. A visit to the 9th ward was a grim awakening to the infamous destruction of Hurricane Katrina. Even though I am well aware of the extent of the damage, I still can’t say that I was truly prepared to see the state of the 9th ward today. There is just this vast emptiness that illustrates the pervasive themes of abandonment and neglect. Many of the houses still have X’s spray painted onto them, along with a combination of numbers that give information as to the body count inside. These markings make for a grim marker of those souls entombed inside. Five years later, we are still reminded of how much we still have left to do.
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