SOULS Alternative Spring Break

It seems like there’s a few Texas people here but no Mississippians haha Honestly I wish people could realize how life changing these trips are…2008 was my third trip down to Mississippi with the ASB program and my fourth trip altogether down to the gulf coast. Each trip opens my eyes more and more to the reality of not just the situation down in the hurricane ravaged areas but also how foolish on one hand and amazingly brave on the other we can be as human beings.
People think just because a disaster is out of the news that it’s “all better” but really the healing has just begun…
Going down to Mississippi 2 years ago I remember a bus full of kids singing and laughing as we left the Gulfport/Biloxi airport on our first day…we got halfway down the road and every single person on that bus was silent…grayish debris, trees, mush, sat where houses once stood…It seemed I could count on one hand the houses we saw standing that day…what was weird though is everyone in town had such vivacity, such hope, such thankfulness for living…I came away from that trip realizing the strength we each have in ourselves…
two years later…we are laughing again (or falling asleep haha) but we get out of our van to take a walk…there’s that silence again…The debris is gone but so are the neighborhoods. What was once a town center is a bit of dirt, a little grass, and some concrete slabs…The people are still grateful and friendly as can be…but somehow the reality has set in…someone hasn’t done their job…someones taken away what little they had whether it be insurance money, friends, family… as they tell their stories you can see the sadness in their eyes…it was almost three years ago for us…but it is yesterday, today, and tomorrow for everyone down there…

The Souls Alternative Spring Break Blog is a blog about the experiences of the 36 Suffolk University students and the 4 Suffolk University faculty members who sacrificed their Spring Break vacation to better the communities of Mississippi and El Paso Texas by doing community service. This Blogs main purpose is to share the experiences of the ASB’ers with the Suffolk Community and to increase the visibility of S.O.U.L.S. and the Alternative Spring Break trip to the entire Suffolk Community.

 

Thanks for putting up the blog Juan!

I’m a little late with putting up my post, sorry.

It seems like Spring Break was so long ago, but really it has only been two weeks!
It’s completely different being back, I wish I was still in El Paso.
After the week, a part of me wanted to stay there but then again I wanted to go home and get back to reality–spending a week with the same people can get to be a little much. But then once I got back, literally a few hours later, I wanted to see everyone again and go back and keep building that house!
I really hope that everyone keeps in contact with each other and especially the people we met in El Paso. It would be really interesting to go back in say a year or so and see how the house came out and see who is living there; I definitely hope that’s something we can do. And if not, well then hopefully we can do another Habitat trip!
The weather here is lame, and so is school :-). I wish we could ALL go back right now. Let’s go.

I really love blogs