One of my favorite things so far is being in close proximity to some older members of our congregation. Something I appreciate about my heritage is the strong work ethic, and that ethic is on display here this week. But not only do they work hard, they laugh hard and play hard too. Every night there are a few spirited rounds of crokinole.
My experience here has already reinforced my belief that inter-generational ministry is the way to go. During the work day today, my team was doing drywall work. We did well enough that they’re sending us back to the same site tomorrow, but without an MDS Crew Leader. But that’s OK, because Trudy Fehr emerged as our leader. This was spontaneous and unanimous when the MDS Director asked: “If I take Jake (our current Crew Leader) away tomorrow, who should be you new Crew Leader?” Trudy worked hard today, gave direction, and taught us what to do when we needed help.
“Heeeeeeeere’s Trudy!”
Another fun part of trips like these is that you finally get to see the personalities of people that are usually quiet. This was the case with Anna Kauenhofen today. She’s been the quietest one on the trip so far today but sometime after lunch a personality emerged that we haven’t seen before.
We got to meet the owner of the home we’re working on today. Her name is Virgey (Ver-gee) Holloway. She told us her story; how she’s been out of her home for almost 4 years now; how her family was moved to a small town in Texas; how her family is now scattered across the country because there is nothing to come back to in New Orleans. The story of families being separated by Katrina is very common. Some of these families have generations of history in these New Orleans neighborhoods; in many cases, that history has now ended.
Virgey’s house is a style called “Shotgun House“. As the story goes, they are called this because they are narrow and you could look through the back door and shoot someone at the front door with a shotgun with an unobstructed view. There is additional terminology that I think you’ll find amusing:
Single Shotgun House – a long, narrow, single story house
Double Shotgun – two shotgun houses attached
Single Shotgun Camel (This is what Virgey’s house is – click on the image t see a larger version) – a long, narrow, single story house with a second floor toward the back – a “camel hump” if you will
Double Shotgun Camel – two shotgun houses attached with a second floor toward the back
Virgey had a bit of her terminology mixed up too. There is a Mr. Penner that works for MDS; she knows him as “Mr. Pennerd who works with the Midianites.” Oh well, we didn’t correct her.
New Orleans is a city of paradox: there are decrepit houses everywhere, but there are $80,000 Mercedes and other expensive cars in front of many of them.
I notice that more care and time and attention was put into the older houses. There is an ornateness in the detail. When we refinish them, everything is square and flat and “efficient”.
It was a good day of work… time to go to bed and rest up for another full day tomorrow.
