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Students gain life experience in post-Katrina New Orleans

Teachers and students from Ă©cole Secondaire Ste. Marguerite d’Youville took the concept of a field trip very far afield. About 20 students travelled to New Orleans last month, coming back with lessons in life experience under their belts.
(L-R) Ecole Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville students Alexis Baird
(L-R) Ecole Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville students Alexis Baird

Teachers and students from Ă©cole Secondaire Ste. Marguerite d’Youville took the concept of a field trip very far afield. About 20 students travelled to New Orleans last month, coming back with lessons in life experience under their belts.

The nine-day mission from Feb. 5 to 13 was conducted under the guidance of lead teacher and vice-principal Danielle Karaki. Seven adult supervisors took the high school students and four members of the Youth Oblate Ministry team to work with St. Bernard Project, a non-profit, community-based organization that creates housing opportunities for survivors of hurricane Katrina, now displaced going on six years.

“The trip overall was inspiring,” Karaki said. “The students were just amazed to see the community and the sense of hope that they have down there.”

“It was amazing to see that they were still so positive and so hopeful.”

The group connected with the parishioners who told stories of how the hurricane ravaged the Gulf Coast in August 2005, resulting in a swell of water that burst through New Orleans’ levees and flooded the entire city. To this day, there are still neighbourhoods of decrepit, abandoned and outright destroyed houses. Debris still exists on the streets and in people’s yards.

The work of the St. Bernard Project started the following March. Karaki said that five years has not been nearly enough time to clean up and rebuild after the costliest natural disaster that destroyed $81 billion in property and took nearly 2,000 lives. Thousands are still homeless.

“Where we were working, there was maybe a house every four or five blocks. Other than that it was just empty. You could see emptiness everywhere.”

What could have easily been a spiritually challenging time turned into an uplifting moment that changed many of the students. They primarily worked with members of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, where 70 per cent of its members lost their homes.

“We had a debrief every night. The kids felt really good that they were just making a big difference.”

Just being there made a world of difference for those people on the receiving end of the help.

“The community stood up for us. They were applauding. They were just so grateful that we were there. That made it quite a positive experience. It really lit a fire in them, wanting to help even more.”

Some students have already started talking about making a return trip.

The ESSMY mission precedes a similar effort that a group from St. Albert Catholic High School will be taking at the end of this month.

Karaki suggested that interested parties check out St. Bernard Project on Facebook or visit www.stbernardproject.org for more information on current and future efforts or to make plans on getting involved personally.

You can also visit www.essmymission.com or go to ESSMY Mission on Facebook to learn more about the trip.


Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

About the Author: Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Ecology and Environment Reporter at the Fitzhugh Newspaper since July 2022 under Local Journalism Initiative funding provided by News Media Canada.
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