My Visit To New Orleans
by Tyler Zach
Walking around the streets of New Orleans was not something I expected to do a month ago. After a few college groups from Nebraska decided to go down there and serve, I was quickly inspired and persuaded to do the same.
As we walked through the street, we saw business buildings, churches, and homes all tattooed with a 10-foot waterline. All the water had been pumped out of the area, but the trash still remained. I would describe New Orleans as a “giant dumpster”.
We walked past the Superdome, which was completely deserted. A month ago, thousands of refugees were being fed and housed there. No one was in sight now – except for a local businessman who was wearing a tie and walking around with his personal video camera. A car drove past and a few guys inside shouted something at us, but we couldn’t make it out.
We walked up to businessman and asked where the worst part of the city was. He pointed to the northwest part of the city and we quickly jumped in our vans and headed in that direction. What we experienced was a ghost town. The only people we saw outside were a few EMTs leaning on a car having a smoke.
The local McDonald’s restaurant was totaled. The windows were blown out and the tables inside were overturned and layered with trash. Churches and schools remained empty and littered with trash. Large hotels stood windowless.
We still can’t conceive of what it will take to restore and rebuild the city. It is going to take years to gut out the rotting, moldy buildings. It is going to take even more time to build new churches, houses, and businesses.
After our brief tour, we drove 15 miles northeast to a city called Slidell, LA. Over 80% of this city was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. In our minds, this town of 200,000 was hit harder than New Orleans. And this was the city that inspired me to bring 25 college students down to the Gulf coast and serve. This experience blew us away and changed our lives. More on that in the next blog. Stay tuned!
Walking around the streets of New Orleans was not something I expected to do a month ago. After a few college groups from Nebraska decided to go down there and serve, I was quickly inspired and persuaded to do the same.
As we walked through the street, we saw business buildings, churches, and homes all tattooed with a 10-foot waterline. All the water had been pumped out of the area, but the trash still remained. I would describe New Orleans as a “giant dumpster”.
We walked past the Superdome, which was completely deserted. A month ago, thousands of refugees were being fed and housed there. No one was in sight now – except for a local businessman who was wearing a tie and walking around with his personal video camera. A car drove past and a few guys inside shouted something at us, but we couldn’t make it out.
We walked up to businessman and asked where the worst part of the city was. He pointed to the northwest part of the city and we quickly jumped in our vans and headed in that direction. What we experienced was a ghost town. The only people we saw outside were a few EMTs leaning on a car having a smoke.
The local McDonald’s restaurant was totaled. The windows were blown out and the tables inside were overturned and layered with trash. Churches and schools remained empty and littered with trash. Large hotels stood windowless.
We still can’t conceive of what it will take to restore and rebuild the city. It is going to take years to gut out the rotting, moldy buildings. It is going to take even more time to build new churches, houses, and businesses.
After our brief tour, we drove 15 miles northeast to a city called Slidell, LA. Over 80% of this city was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. In our minds, this town of 200,000 was hit harder than New Orleans. And this was the city that inspired me to bring 25 college students down to the Gulf coast and serve. This experience blew us away and changed our lives. More on that in the next blog. Stay tuned!
posted by Tyler Zach at 11:08 AM
3 Comments:
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Many thanks to you and your college students for going to Louisiana! Personalizing the passage from 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 as a perfect prayer for all of you in this situation:
"Thank You, God, who will lead these people in triumphal procession in Christ and through them will spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of You. For they are to You the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one they are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. When they do not feel equal to such a task, Lord, please remind them that, unlike so many, they do not peddle Your Word for profit. On the contrary, in Christ they speak before You with sincerity, like men sent directly from You."
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