Today we woke up at 6:45am to go to the Blind River for planting bullrush grass along the banks of the river. On the ride to our destination, we were all pretty tired but we still engaged in some jamming to music because we were so excited !! The first thing we did was load about 40 sacks of bullrush into a boat and two canoes, furthermore distributing several groups of people along the shores to start planting. Throughout the entire day, we planted 800 sprigs using dibbles which are metal tools we used for digging holes for the plants. We worked in groups of three or pairs and this was great because we really got a chance to put our heads together and work as a team. Also, being stuck with the same people all day forced conversation and brought us closer as a group. At lunch time, Mr. Larry and Ms. Gayle were kind enough to share their culture with us and cooked us a homemade pot of jambalaya and bread pudding. To conclude our work day we took a trip to get some snowballs and ice cream which were probably the most exciting part of the day. Tonight, we had a visitor named Kim who is a survivor of Katrina. This was a really eye-opening experience for the group because in all honesty I don’t think we were all truly aware of the eternal and significant damage done to these communities physically and mentally/emotionally. What we also didn’t know is how some people view this tragedy as in some ways, a blessing because so many people left New Orleans and were presented with immense amounts of opportunities and happiness for themselves as well as their children. Without Katrina, they would have never gotten these chances. I think this was a very important component to our experiences on this trip because it helps us to truly understand most of the underlying details.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]