Worksite Day 2

Relaxing now, having some Shiraz/Cabernet in my hotel room as I log my second day's work. Now before I begin there was one thing I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that I wanted to share with "y'all." During the Habitat start of day meeting at the work site one of the leader's was giving a speech on safety. He said "There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. I was stupid (as he holds up his 4.5 fingers on his right hand.)" Sorry I don't have a pic to post but thought that was a genius of a lesson. Lesson learned.

Today was MUCH more tolerable than yesterday. I'm not sure if the weather was milder, just knowing what to expect or the fact that most of my day was spent working underneath a nearly completed home away from the sun. Today I fixed some insulation that was improperly installed, preventing a huge fire hazard. After all these people lost their homes to a hurricane and massive flooding, I'm sure they don't want to lose their new one to a fire. For lunch we went to a now four month resident of a Musician's Village's home that Habitat built. His name is Ricardo Crespo and he is from south Brazil. He performed a concert on his porch and was such a cool spirit. Someone asked if he played the blues and his response was "To play the blues you need a certain feeling. And I don’t feel that way now. I feel love and celebration." He then did a rendition of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry." Here is a video of Ricardo telling his story this morning.



As the work day was winding down and we were putting our tools away a car drove by us, slowed down, and thanked us all for helping rebuild his neighborhood. A woman who will be receiving a Habitat home in the future was also on site today for her first day on the job. Habitat requires homeowners to log a certain amount of time on the job site. As they say "We don't offer a hand out, we offer a hand up." A few people in my group got to know her pretty well today. When we left she was hugging them and said "God Bless You." It was extremely touching to say the least. The gratitude these people have is mind blowing.

In other news there was a feature today in the New Orleans Times about the Musicians Village. Someone in my group noticed I was in the picture on the front cover. One of my coworkers here, Chris Jones, was also featured in a local Massachusetts paper which you view here. I know some of our photos have been submitted for other press releases too.

I also have more pics that I took last night and this afternoon for you to check out here. Keep the comments coming, I love reading them all.

Miss you much,
Matt