life’s not a paragraph

its been almost a week since i came back from spring break, which is kind of crazy. this week went by so fast. which means that the rest of this semester is going to go by even faster! :O i don’t really want it to. what i really wish it that i was flying back to mississippi right now. and spending another week (or two) down there. alternative spring break was so amazing. i am so lucky. i had one of the greatest weeks of my life.

i learned so much over this break. i learned about the civil rights movement in the 1960’s (a woman came and spoke to us about her experiences during the time. her husband was the president of the NAACP for 20+ years!). i learned about poverty and housing issues not only in meridian, but all over the country. i learned about the strength of humanity, and our unbelievable way of taking something like hurricane katrina and using it as a springboard to create hope and change.

i met quite a few people who fled from new orleans and the mississippi coast to escape hurricane katrina. one woman, ms aileen, (who has received a habitat house) lost everything in the storm. but she wasn’t bitter or angry. she gets strength from her faith, and she is one of the happiest women i have ever met. fonda (the president of the habitat chapter that we worked with) told us that they refer to katrina as a member of the family; she has become a part of each and everyone of them. that statement really surprised a lot of us. and the thing is, it’s so true. even though i was there for only a week, i could tell from that these people were working hard to overcome the destruction she caused, but never, ever are they going to forget katrina.

the trip was really inspiring in so many ways. it was, without a doubt, a life-changing, perspective-altering experience, and i know that it’s going to be something that i take with me for the rest of my life.