World Renew - DRS
Peter & Mabel Roukema
We just completed three weeks of serving as volunteers with World Renew’s Disaster Response Service (DRS). Our team of 18 volunteers worked on 4 different homes that were heavily damaged by Hurricane Isaac in September, 2012 in LaPlace, Louisiana, half an hour north of New Orleans. With the entire team, we billeted in the Kenner United Methodist Church, where DRS has converted second floor classrooms into dormitory style rooms. It was a wonderful team of committed, mostly skilled (present company excepted) people, who work hard and enjoy good fun and fellowship.
The home where Peter spent most of the time, is actually a trailer which has had a number of sections added over the years. It is the home of Ms Earline Wilson, who has consented to our posting these pictures and writing about her. Earline has lived on the property for 60 of her 62 years, first in a house, and when that was torn down, in the trailer since 1978. The trailer is home for Earline, and two granddaughters aged 13 and 21. When we arrived, this home was in terrible shape and our job was to tear down a wall and extend a small kitchen into an addition which was not complete and was only being used for storage. After tearing down the wall, our team of up to five people insulated, dry walled, taped, sanded, straightened out the floor, and painted the new floors, giving Earline about twice as much living space as she had before. There were also a number of unexpected problems with the plumbing and she ended up getting a new bathroom. (The floor turned out to be totally rotten.) Besides Hurricane Isaac, Earline has endured many other trials and challenges, and we are so glad to have been part of this project for her.
Mabel did a lot of painting, mudded and taped dry wall, sanded and mudded some more, and sanded and mudded some more, grouted two bathtubs and laid floor tiles. We have worked hard but it has been a wonderful experience. It is a bit like going to camp – sleeping in dorms, delicious food cooked by someone else, devotions and singing, playing games, or puzzling in the evening. At the end of the three weeks we feel like we have know these people for a long time. We learned a lot of new skills and feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet our clients and to be part of an organization that gives "a cup of water" in the name of Jesus. The clients are so thankful that God has brought us all into their lives. They testify to God's faithfulness to them despite the horrific things they have gone through. We and most of our DRS team went to church with Earline - which was wonderful! It was what you would expect a Southern African American church to be like. Rich singing and powerful preaching!
Another client whose house we worked on told her Hurricane Isaac story. There was absolutely no notice. She heard a sound and looked out the back door to see what the sound was and the water rushed into her home. She had just come home from the hospital after chemo treatment for stomach cancer and was very weak. She told me that she prayed to God and God provided a neighbour's boat at her front door. She got in to the boat and floated down her street picking up neighbours. One young woman didn't want to get on the boat because she was too distraught. The flood waters had just ripped her twin babies out of her arms and carried them away. Our client convinced her to get into the boat and calmed her down with the story of Job. About 3 months after the hurricane a group came to gut her house to get rid of the moldy drywall etc. She didn't have money to fix her home because she spent all her money on chemo. She told me that she lost everything, but she had her life. She was so grateful for everything and praised God for his faithfulness.
We left Kenner Saturday morning and already the new team of volunteers from Canada and the US were arriving to take over our rooms for the next three week stint. We have gained a deep appreciation for DRS - the organization, its leaders and the "greenshirts" who do the site work. DRS is presently serving at five locations across North America, and has been in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 - ongoing: one three week team after another for most of the year. DRS places teams in homes that have been identified by the board of the local Long Term Relief Organization, which represents a number of churches and community groups. People receive assistance after they have met certain criteria, which will have been determined by an interview with Needs Assessment people and a visit to the site. For more on how DRS operates, just go to http://worldrenew.net/greenshirts.