We're back and I figured it was about time to post a little recap of our trip as you've probably been seeing bits and pieces of things as I could tweet them and might be wondering what in the world happened. Let me just start off by saying that everyone is fine and there are no permanent injuries or anything. Good way to start off a post, eh?
Our group consisted of two types of folks - the "weekenders" (those that had to return to Austin on Sunday for work on Monday) and the "lifers" (those who could stay the entire time). It was about a 50/50 split, so that worked out pretty well. Our first task was to finish off some demolition work (which required just about every one of the 18 sets of hands we had to work on it) and then we spent the rest of our time working on finishing the interior of a house with drywall texture and paint.
Demolition is an inherently dangerous part of construction, and that was evidenced by the fact that on both days we worked there, someone got hurt. I had the dubious distinction of being the first, as I fell through some rotted subflooring to get my leg pinned between a beam and that same subfloor. I had probably walked over that spot dozens of times earlier in the day, but I was showing someone else what to do and wasn't paying attention and planted my foot right in that spot. This time, it gave way and I dropped like a ton of bricks, torquing my shoulder hard in the attempt to stop my fall and seriously straining the rotator cuff area (with which I've had problems before). I have some nice bruises on either side of my leg at the knee and thigh from where my leg was caught, and it took three or four guys to simultaneously push down the subfloor piece and pull me out in order to get my leg free. It's feeling much better now, though, so hopefully there will be a full recovery in just a few more days or so.
The second day that very same section of subfloor caused our second injury which resulted in a trip to the urgent care facility (there is no ER on the island). We were trying to remove the section of subfloor using a 2x4 as a lever with another 2x4 for a fulcrum when the fulcrum board snapped without so much as a creak of warning and clipped Mark's head on the way past - it snapped with so much force that it still landed on the other side of the room even after bouncing off of Mark's head bone. Mark started bleeding right away and we had to bust out the med kit and decided that he needed to go to an urgent care facility as soon as possible (thank God for iPhones, Pres, and location-aware Google Maps). Turns out the 3-inch gash in his scalp took 9 staples to hold closed. However, he was fine to drive home and I've been in conversation with him via Twitter, so I know he's alive and kicking still.
The rest of the week went pretty smoothly, considering the way it started. There was a bout with a flea infestation with part of the group at another location, and there were several opportunities with potential for injury (falling off of ladders or the back of stationary trucks) that didn't result in any hurts. I sprayed drywall mud texture for the first time on this trip, and also learned a lot about construction (and destruction) from several of the former tradesmen on our trip. That was exciting for me, because I always like learning anything that helps me to be more self-sufficient and useful in a home setting.
Our main enemy was just the heat and humidity; there wasn't a single day in which I did not sweat completely through my clothes while working. When you sweat through jeans just like you have just dove into the pool with all your clothes on, you know it's humid. We just had to drink a lot of water and make sure to stay hydrated and take breaks when we needed to. My camelbak which Kyle gave me sure came in handy on this trip and is the perfect accessory to doing hot, sweaty work in a humid environment. Filling up a third of the bag with ice and the rest of it with water worked out really well for the morning and allowed me to keep working without having to constantly refill a water bottle or run down to the cooler. Even with that, though, that first day I just wasn't getting enough water. I filled it up twice, but apparently four liters of water wasn't enough for the amount that I was sweating during the day. That, my friends, is totally insane.
In the evenings, we acted semi-touristy (even though we were all exhausted just about every night) - we watched the fireworks over the Gulf on July 4, we walked on the sand and in the surf on the beach, and we sampled some of the local eateries. Definitely nice to relax and unwind after a hard day of more physical labor than I had done in a long time - probably since the last mission trip I went on! By the way, if you happen to find yourself in Galveston, I'd highly recommend that you visit The Original Mexican Cafe (off Broadway) and Miller's Seafood Grill (also referred to as Miller's Landing, on Seawall) if you get the chance. Very good food and good prices to boot.
What a week...well, six days, rather. We spent the last week helping the iConnect ministry based at University Baptist Church (a satellite community center of the Help4Galveston organization) to revitalize two of the twenty-three houses that they are currently working to rebuild after those houses succumbed to the onslaught of Hurricane Ike in September of last year. There has been a big effort to repair the homes and businesses along the major tourist areas (Seawall Blvd, Broadway St., and the Strand), but there are so many other houses that are still unlivable in all the other sections of town. The standing water was 12 feet high for several days and in most cases people are living with friends or family somewhere else (either in Galveston or elsewhere in the country). In fact, the Today Show came to Galveston just two days before we arrived to coordinate a donation drop from many manufacturers of over $540,000 in equipment and supplies to help rebuild.
It was pretty shocking to realize that even 9 months after the hurricane hit that there are houses that are still devoid of electricity or gas and that many of the houses which look okay on the outside are totally trashed inside. So many people lost so much. In fact, the reason that UBC has become a Help4Galveston outpost is because the congregation has pretty much evaporated due to displacement and so they figured they might as well help rebuild the city as try to rebuild the congregation. And I, for one, am glad that I was able to help out in a very small way to move things forward and hopefully get at least two houses back to an inhabitable condition so that their families can try to rebuild the rest of their lives and get back to whatever passes for normal in their lives. We're also hoping to continue the relationship with UBC that we started this week and take another team down in maybe six months or so to do some more work in a (hopefully) cooler climate.
