VOICES OF ALL HANDS AND HEARTS
LAUREN, PROGRAM DIRECTOR IN LOUISIANA
FEBRUARY 13, 2023
Written by Lauren Nichols, Program Director, Louisiana Hurricane Relief Lauren is a long-term All Hands and Hearts (AHAH) volunteer and is currently Program Director of AHAH’s Louisiana Hurricane Ida Relief program.
REMAIN IN THE PRESENT
Heading out of the Walmart, I was tangled up on the fringe of what I presumed was an impromptu reunion. After a few moments of nodding and smiling, I realized it was strangers sharing the day – and I was one of them.
I’ve been in Louisiana for a few months and I’m still adjusting. More than once, someone stopped me with a smile in their eyes and asked: “What’s the rush?”
A gentle reminder to remain in the present.
LOUISIANA
I’m here in LaPlace, Louisiana, working as Program Director for All Hands and Hearts’ Louisiana Hurricane Ida Relief program in St. John the Baptist Parish. Addressing the critical need in the community, our work involves rebuilding the interior of residential homes.
Hurricane Ida landed over the Port Fourchon region on August 29, 2021 – the sixteenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Wind speeds exceeded 150-mph for over six hours, devastating the area. Katrina took down New Orleans in half that time with 125-mph winds. Post-Katrina New Orleans has shored up, but the surrounding areas lack the attention and resources to elevate, rebuild, or relocate. Homes are constructed with unsustainable materials, becoming weak over time and unable to tolerate changing weather patterns. We are lending a hand to make homes livable so that people have a few more years to figure out a plan for their grandchildren.
On the outskirts of New Orleans, St. John the Baptist Parish hugs the banks of the Mississippi River. It’s known for its andouille and top-notch tamales. Fortunes were made from sugar cane and the industry is still dominant. Over the past hundred years, working sugar cane plantations have been replaced with refineries, but deep systemic oppression persists. Chemical and petroleum companies have moved plants in. The documented risk from air toxins pumped from petrochemical companies is far above the United States national average. The strip between New Orleans and Baton Rouge is now termed “Cancer Alley.”
I began working with the Louisiana Hurricane Ida Relief program as a volunteer. Most of my long-term volunteer time, domestically and abroad, has been with All Hands and Hearts.
I signed up to volunteer in Nepal several years ago because All Hands and Hearts is the only secular organization I’ve found that doesn’t require a fee or specialized skills. I keep returning because the programs are mercifully free of political talk and tend to attract action-oriented people. People move through these shared moments with various values and approaches. Different backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives come together with intention and a shared goal.
The environment of response and recovery can be overwhelming – the compromises of communal living, challenging personalities, bearing witness to intense destruction and despair. Ideas, information and identities that have served you in the past may no longer have a place and you are forced to adapt by unlearning them at an accelerated rate.
Your best option is often to let go and be fully present in each moment.
Several years back, I rented a flat in Madrid. I became friendly with a kebab shop owner; it wasn’t uncommon for me to visit twice daily for his falafel. Seb had set aside his practice as a physician in Pakistan to help his widowed sister run the shop.
His extended family had experienced forced migration from Bangladesh and human displacement was standard in his community. The first time this came up, I mentioned I had come from volunteering at a refugee camp in Greece.
With clasped hands, he cried: “Oh my! You are so lucky to be able to volunteer!”
This moment has stuck with me because of his delight. He seemed genuinely happy for me that I was lucky enough to have had access to this opportunity – the chance to chip away at my assumptions and limits.
Volunteering is a luxury.
It allows you to work toward something when you don’t know how else to move forward. Even in small ways, giving back comes with the privilege of an alternative perspective and a chance to radiate positive change in the world. It is a practical step toward becoming your best self.
