Week Five, Day Five

Thursday ...
Well, I'm still sick but painting doesn't require me to feel well. We stop at a different coffee shop this morning per Doug's recommendation ("The Joy Of Coffee") and head to work. We finish the baseboard painting pretty early on, strip away the paper from the floor, and get started on the windows.

Only 30 minutes into our day, Mike asks us to meet his co-worker, Jenny, at his office. While we want to see the other AFH homes, we know this is the coolest part of the day. However, we know this will be time well spent so we close up the Parker Home and head over to the AFH offices.

Jenny greets us and tell us she wants to tour the area a bit. Our first stop is the Nguyen Home.

The Nguyen family has called Biloxi home for many decades and they knew they wanted to stay here after Katrina, but I wonder if they (or any of the families behind any of the rebuild projects) knew what that would require of them.

Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen have a good sized lot, and Mr. Nguyen has gardening skills like I've never witnessed (Miss Iona and my own mother included). Even in this heat, in a seemingly "empty" garden, there are large, long green squashes hanging from vines all over the place, chickens roaming about happily pecking at the dirt, and water-herbs growing from a now-repurposed canoe.


The Nguyens have 4 children - three boys and one girl. They are living in a single-wide trailer on their property with their dog while their home is being rebuilt. They leave their refrigerator outdoors, to create more room inside (and because the heat generated from the unit would only add to the uncomfortable temperature inside).


I remember Paula from Week #1 '06 asking if that wouldn't be even more frustrating for families - being *that* close to your home but not being able to make the process go any faster. Now it's a year later - and six folks (and the family dog) are living in a single-wide trailer on their land. They're seeing progress through, so hopefully that's enough to provide hope to the Nguyens that they'll be home again soon - depending on how you define "soon".

Jenny takes us to a few other projects that AFH is involved with and since she's just returned from a mini-vacation, she's excited to see the progress that's been made. We wrap things up at a local park, where she invites us to sit down on a bench. "It's perfectly designed", she says. With all the need all around, it may seem weird that a park bench would get noticed - but as I sit down, I see (or, more accurately, I feel) what she means. Turns out that bench was built by George, our Hands-On captain for Week #4 and yes, it is very comfortable. And shouldn't a little time be spent on things that make this all a little easier?

The morning passes, and we head to Volunteer Village for lunch. Ling and Bill eat outside but my cold just won't let me spend any extra time in extreme temperatures like that. After Ling finishes her lunch, she finds a couch inside the village and takes a nap. It's not that the work that we've been doing requires a lot of us - but honestly, being in this heat and doing anything at all DOES require a lot.

The afternoon passes pretty quickly and after time to clean up and recharge, we head off to dinner. We pick up Doug, who lives off campus, and head to The Shed, where I know *amazing* BBQ waits.

During the drive over, Doug tells us that his last day here is coming in October and, while it will be difficult to say goodbye to the friends he has made here, he has family back home (San Jose, CA) that he misses and wants to see. In the same breath, he admits that if another hurricane should strike this area, he wouldn't hesitate to return. "They're my friends. We drive each other nuts. We argue. We fight. We yell and get really worked up over lots of things, but we each have the other person's back, no matter what."


We spend several hours with Doug at The Shed, and I make sure to update our visit log on the ceiling with today's date. I leave enough room for a November entry and rejoin the team. We drive back to camp, after thanking Doug for joining us. Tomorrow we'll wrap up what we can and hopefully the heat will lighten up just a bit.