Post-Workcamp

We're back. The workcamp was a great week. You go through stages, and after being back 5 days now i'm still kind of shaken up. Initially it was the shock (see picture). It looks like a 3rd world country in some parts down there, I couldn't believe this was America, that all our wealth and power is inadequate in getting thousands of people's lives back to some level of normalacy (sp? is that a word?). Then somehow amid the gutting of houses and the showering with 64 other people you get accustomed to the devastation. You get descensatized to just how awful everything is because you're living in it, well, visiting. Then you meet the homeowners that have lost everything and it's worse than shock. Its beyond empathizing with them. What can you possibly say to these people? Isn't it almost insulting that all these kids with great houses back home put on a sad face while they clean out whats left of an entire lifetime of memories? A strong sense of guilt comes over you when you delight in using a sledgehammer to break down water-closets or tile. Then you realize that thoughts like that are selfish, that you are here to give hope to these people and that's what happened. More, real soon!