New Orleans brings two Bonnies home

Six days, 1,500 miles and seven states later, we made it to our final destination of New Orleans, Louisiana. This city will be my new home for at least the next 16 months and will mark the birthplace of a new life journey while I pursue my Master’s Degree in Social Work at Tulane University.

Since Dan only had limited time in the city (he’s embarking on his own adventure with a one-way ticket to Nepal and plan to climb Mount Everest), and I could not move into my apartment for a few more days, we decided to explore New Orleans as we have every city on our road trip – as tourists.

We kicked off our time with a stop at Plum Street Snoball, one of the oldest and most popular snoball stands in the city. Snoballs compare best to “snow cones” only with more finely shaved ice, more flavor options and a sturdier cup to hold the refreshing treat together.

We spent time exploring the French Quarter and, of course, tried our first-ever Hurricane drink at Bourbon Street’s world-famous Pat O’Brien’s – an establishment with a motto to “Have fun!” And, so we did. From there, we grabbed a Hand Grenade from Tropical Isle and strolled through the Quarter, amazed at the unique architecture and people around us. It was only Monday night, but the street musicians played and the meandering drinkers (like us) listened.

The highlight of touring New Orleans was a trip to the Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish, two areas that received some of the worst damage during Hurricane Katrina. Six months after the storm swept through the city, Dan visited New Orleans with a group of volunteers from St. Bonaventure University. In the weeks immediately following Katrina, the university created a group called Bona Responds – an idea that focused originally on helping the Gulf Coast region and has since grown to aid in disaster relief nationwide and in Haiti. This week marked Dan’s first trip back to New Orleans since visiting as a volunteer.

The Bona Responds students spent one week sleeping on a church floor in St. Bernard Parish and received daily assignments to gut houses and clean up debris among the community. Dan remembered a house near the church that his group spent most of their time working on. The homeowner, Ben, had made it his mission – despite his children’s insistent advice to move elsewhere – to fix the house and move his family back in someday. The Bona Responds volunteers joined the mission, working in gas masks and tall, sturdy boots in an attempt to make this happen.

When we passed the house this week, Dan found it almost unrecognizable. Though it rests among vacant lots and buildings still damaged from the storm, it had been completely re-renovated. We approached the door to see who might be inside, and an elderly African-American woman answered, cracking the door only slightly at first to see what we wanted. She seemed skeptical of the people on her front porch.

Once we explained that Dan helped gut her house just after Katrina, the woman opened the door wider and emerged into the hot, sticky New Orleans air. This woman (who never did give her name, so for story-telling purposes we call Mrs. Ben) turned out to be Ben’s late wife. Their family had spent one year after Katrina living in a FEMA trailer, but eventually made it back into the house. Unfortunately, one more year later Ben passed away from a heart attack. Ben and Mrs. Ben’s children still live nearby, and Dan remembered working on their house as well. Mrs. Ben confirmed that they, too, had been lucky enough to return home since the storm.

Mrs. Ben seemed appreciative for the details Dan remembered about her family and had become continuously more open and engaged throughout our conversation. Before returning to cooking shrimp in the kitchen, she asked Dan to stop by again next time he visits New Orleans. He promised he would.

Our visit to St. Bernard Parish fell on the day before Hurricane Katrina’s six-year anniversary. My school orientation landed coincidentally on August 29th – the official anniversary – and the Social Work school’s dean opened with remarks about the important day. He encouraged us to remember the victims, reiterated how important social workers are to the New Orleans community, and thanked us for choosing to pursue a degree in a city that still greatly needs our help.

I have only officially lived in New Orleans for a few days, but these small events have made a huge impact in validating my place here. I came to the city hoping to learn about and assist in rebuilding people and communities, and I know with certainty now that this is exactly where I need to be to start making that happen.

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This post is part of on On the Road Series , a road trip with my brother, Dan, and cat, Logan, from Chicago, Illinois to New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.