I learned many conceptions we see today, especially in the media, are actually misconceptions. We have such a fallacy in believing the world is corrected once a disaster is no longer mentioned. But affected areas are still healing. Katrina's aftermath is still evident and alive, while the oil spill is still lurking in the Gulf. Neither is mostly absolved. Both are still there, still in need of help, though little apparent to people outside these regions. These disasters are still there, still causing pain and hardship for the residents.
I would like to challenge anyone who claims the Katrina region is fixed, that the Gulf is 75% clean of oil. We heard plenty of eyewitness accounts proclaiming continued pain. We saw for ourselves the infrastructure that must be rebuilt five years later, and will continue to be rebuilt long after our trip.
I learned much on this trip about misery, recovery, hope and stubborness. I feel I've been affected in profound ways, such as I can seriously feel stirrings of compassion on a much deeper level than I felt before the trip. I'm going to appear cliqued here, but one person can make a difference. How many people whom we talked to were grateful we had taken an interest in a forgotten disaster-recovery area in our country? How many willingly shared their lives painful stories to a bunch of college kids? We may have made a small difference in their lives and upon the Gulf region, but I feel the greatest impact was made upon me and my fellow Alternate Fall Break travellers. We came on this trip to have a good time, but we also willingly gave up our vacations to learn and work. We've made but a small stirring in a wide sea, but even a small stirring can expound to create further reaching results. Our experiences and stories are not hidden behind the agendas of others. No one needs to read between the lines and decifer the facts to get the real story. Our experiences and thoughts are raw, true and less biased by the outer world because we saw for ourselves the truth of the painful disasters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Great Experience!

Check out my blog from AFB:
http://mississippiafb2001.blogspot.com/

AFB Mississippi

This was such an awesome experience. I'm so glad I was given the chance to go on this trip.
It has taken me a few days to really understand what I have gotten out of the trip. I've only learned small bits of information, but have realized that it has changed my perceptions of the world. Perceptions about people, industry and nature.
I'm most surprised by people's resiliency. Why would people want to return to an area that was destroyed by Katrina and the oil spill? Hurricanes will come that way again. Wouldn't it be just as easy to buy a home and find a stable job away from the coast, rather than totally start over? I guess if my home had been destroyed, I'd probably try to pick up the pieces myself, instead of moving many miles away in unfamiliar territory. This is one perception I gained from the trip. People need the security of their homes and family, even after a terrible disaster, to correct their lives. It seems crazy, but in a similar situation, I would feel the same way.

Oil On Our Shores... First Hand Experience

On Sunday October 10, we traveled to Ship Island, on the western end of the Gulf Shores National Seashore. Here we witnessed the oil clean-up process first hand. Our students had the opportunity to talk with clean-up workers, and watched the process. Simple kitchen tools were the most effective in digging out the tar balls and sifting through the contaminated sand. Although very labor intensive, crews on this stretch of beach were successful in collecting an average of some 750 pounds of oil per day (as much as 1200 pounds on bad (?) days, or as little as 500 on good (?) days). Much of this oil was between 6 and 8" below the surface, but as noted by the clean-up crew, the beach changes so dynamically that they personally saw the beach grow as much as 6 feet in just a week's time - thus burying the oil for even deeper.

Upon our return home (see link), we learned about the possibility of a new, motorized method for removing oil from below the surface of the sand. Will it work? Is it going to be effective given what we learned about how this beach behaves/moves each day? Will the clean-up impact the organisms that live on/under the beach? What do you think?

Bus will arrive back in Ship this afternoon!

The bus is due back to Ship this afternoon. I know the crew will be tired after the all-night ride, but the trip was fantastic and rewarding. The students worked so incredibly hard and made a strong impression on the local community. The whole university should be proud of how they represented Shippensburg! Some of the experiences we had were quite intense and will take some time to process, so I anticipate some wonderful blog posts. Learn, serve, and pass it on!

We are here... just in time for sunset on the gulf.

Sunset on Biloxi

photo courtesy of Amanda Bumbaugh. class of '14

Maps of the Gulf Coast oil spill

The New York Times continues its coverage of the Gulf Coast oil spill with an animated slide show that displays the area and volume of oil as it spilled over time.