Project Children Keeps Delivering On The Gulf Coast

By Danielle Neeson

On August 29th this year It will be six years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the southern states of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Six years on, there are thousands of displaced residents still living in temporary accommodation.

On June 23rd a group of twenty college students and six chaperones from the Project Children Intern Program came from across Ireland to make the journey from Belfast to New Orleans, to participate in a Habitat for Humanity project in the Bay-Waveland area of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

During the storm, the surge covered the entire lower half of Hancock county, Mississippi, destroying the coastal communities of Waveland and much of Bay St. Louis.

Seventy per cent of all housing in Hancock County was either damaged or destroyed.

The debris removed from Hancock County could fill one hundred and fifty football fields fifty feet high.

Habitat for Humanity Bay-Waveland aims to eliminate poverty housing throughout the world by partnering with families, volunteers, donors and friends to provide decent, affordable housing.

They do this by selecting families who fit a particular criteria of need, ability to repay a low cost, no profit mortgage loan and willingness to provide "sweat equity", which entails investing time also helping to build their house.

This partnership involves time and commitment from both parties by incorporating training in financial management, home maintenance and other topics as the family moves through the process to home ownership.

Since 2006 Habitat for Humanity Bay-Waveland area has partnered with more than 3,500 volunteers, families, donors, sponsors and friends to build approximately 115 homes in Hancock County.

The Project Children Intern Program gives a group of students the opportunity to travel to the United States each summer to spend the summer undertaking internships all over the USA in various working environments, gaining invaluable experiences to prepare them for the working world.

By spending five days volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, Bay-Waveland, this was a way to show our gratitude and appreciation to the American people for their warm welcome and support.

The Project Children group was excited and eager upon discovering that they would be involved with such a prestigious organization doing something so rewarding and worthwhile, but nothing could have prepared us for the experience that lay ahead.

The group came together having just met for the first time at the airport in Belfast.

Through sharing such a unique and life changing experience, by the end of the week we had made lasting relationships with people we felt like we had known for years.

Stepping off the plane in New Orleans Louis Armstrong International airport, it was the intense heat and humidity that hit us like a brick wall.

Our fair Irish skin did not know what it was getting itself in for!

The week began with a Habitat for Humanity induction evening, where we met with two others groups from the United States that we would be working alongside, the Young Nak Celebration Church Group from Los Angeles and Corpus Christi Church group from New Jersey.

Over the course of the week we spent the evenings socializing with the others groups and cooking for each other.

On Monday morning we were introduced to Chris and Steve, two Habitat for Humanity foremen who would be directing and guiding us on site and Katie and Cat, two volunteers from the Americorps organization who have been working with Habitat, building houses since October.

Over the next five days, they would be working with us putting up the frame of the house, erecting the roof, installing the inside walls and all the unsavory jobs in between.

Soon we were getting our hands dirty and I speak for myself when I say I couldn't even hammer a nail into a piece of wood but, as the days progressed, myself and the group grew in confidence and fortitude.

Dennis Mulcahy, Chairman of the Project Children organization even shared the load with us to do his bit for the build.

Starting on Monday with just the foundations and decking completed, by Friday, the frame of the house and the inside walls had been erected and the roof put on.

Seeing the house literally go up before our eyes gave us a great sense of achievement and it was seeing the progress that we were making, actually create something tangible that kept us keep going throughout the stifling heat. 

Although the experience was wholly enjoyable, there were difficulties along the way.

On Tuesday evening our very own Habitat for Humanity foreman, Steve was admitted to hospital suffering from heat exhaustion.

Witnessing the commitment and determination it takes to make a such a huge difference only drove us to keep going.

The people involved in these building projects work relentlessly all year round in extreme temperatures to give something back to this community and to be given the opportunity to work alongside these exceptional people, to create a home for a family to grow and nurture in was a privilege and an inspiration. 

If there was one thing that struck a chord with everyone, it was the amazing community spirit that exists in Bay St. Louis.

Even through all the devastation that Hurricane Katrina brought upon this beautiful town, it is the resilience of their community spirit and their faith in human kindness that has kept life afloat here.

Meeting the Anderson family that would eventually be living and raising their baby son in the house we were building and listening to their personal experiences of suffering and survival throughout the hurricane and its lasting effects was the biggest reward of all.

Mr Anderson described the aftermath of Katrina as something out of a "horror film".

There were sheds in trees, houses displaced streets away from where they originally stood and people wandering the streets in the night crying out for loved ones through the deathly silence of the absent cricket chirps.

The Anderson family undertook part of their sweat equity to help us while we were building their house and it was evident from the beginning, the invaluable work that Habitat for Humanity does for families and communities in need.

This organization not only provides decent, affordable shelter for families in need but it helps these families create homes through the training and support they provide.

This experience alone was life changing but to meet a family who have lost everything and are trying to rebuild their lives around this house was humbling and at the very least an honor.

I speak on behalf of the rest of the group when I say how proud and lucky I am that I had the opportunity to be involved in something so exceptional as a Habitat for Humanity building project; to work with some of the most dedicated and committed people in the country both on site and behind the scenes was a privilege and an experience I will carry with me for the rest of my life.