Anshu Vipparla I remember freshmen year answering the question, what do you want to do before you die, with the words “make a difference” painted on the East Campus bridge freshmen year. It’s pretty hard to go through life without leaving some sort of imprint, but sometimes those small differences are mistakenly minimalized. When I listen to my fellow Duke engagers, I’m awestruck at all that they’ve been able to do in such a short period of time. We have people working with local schools on teen dating abuse, developing an entire social media plan for a large non-profit, setting up a fundraiser for a woman who has been through the unimaginable, and making so many more of those small differences. Over the past few weeks we’ve been a part of it all- the endless rebuilding, the resilient communities, the exceptional city- and I don’t think any us will ever be able to forget it. So when we get on that plane in another two weeks we leave behind all the people we’ve met, all the amazing firsts we’ve had in the city, and everything we’ve accomplished over the last 8 weeks, but we also leave a little bit different than when we first got here. |
There may be 4 floors in the Red Cross building along with an obscene amount of office space, but there are only about 10 people that I see on a daily basis so I’ve gotten pretty close to them over the summer. I can tell you about how Thomas thinks New Orleans is a great city that is just too hot, how all you need is some coke or peanut butter to get on Ms. Helene’s good side, how Carolanne has an envy-worthy obsession with Harry Potter, how Mr. Shaun loves every kind of chocolate there is, and how Maureen thinks it’s unfair that people judge her for buying fairy themed gummy snacks. But I can also go on and on about how each of them have such an amazing commitment to “making a difference” for a community that has been through so much. Sometimes I feel guilty because people come up to Johnny and I during our presentations and tell us how much they appreciate us because the Red Cross has done so much for them. I’ve never given them food or clothing, but someone from the Red Cross (like the people I work with) did and to be a part of an organization that does that for a person or a community is amazing. It makes me sad to leave all the incredible people I’ve met through work behind. They’ve inspired me in countless ways and reminded me that there are so many ways to help and even the smallest difference matters. |
And then there are the other people I’m never going to forget. My first night out there was the bus driver that made us laugh for more that 20 minutes outside Popeye’s at who knows what time about everything from 4th of July to his wicked ex-girlfriends. On a bus ride back from work once there was a man that told us tales about bus size alligators and snakes that ate humans. While shopping in the French Quarter there was a woman who went out of her way to talk to me and take the time to tell me her Katrina story as we perused through aisles of dresses. Oh and there were all the kids that called me Miss Anshu and gave me the best hugs before I left their classrooms. I probably also won’t forget the federal officer carrying around a M-16 when Johnny and I presented at Entergy’s “Take your kid to work day.” Then there are the ADPis at Tulane that always want to take me out to lunch or just hang out even when I barely knew them. There are so many people I’m forgetting like the amazing jazz performers we’ve been able to see, the palm reader who told me that next summer would be lucky for me, or even my favorite man at the Magnolia school prom we volunteered at that told me he loved me just to make my day, and so many more. |
Yesterday Carolyn and I walked down Poydras and ran into all these fancy casinos, this extremely large and beautiful fountain, and even a lighted boardwalk that seemed too perfect to be true. We were just exploring, not really knowing what to expect, but it feels like I’ve been doing that this entire summer. I know it sounds a little creepy, but Johnny and I explored the Metairie Cemetery last week and it was unbelievably awesome. Each tomb was unique and beautiful with a background of stormy rain clouds to make the moment so eerie that it was almost perfect. Oh we also listened to Charmaine Neville at Snug Harbor on Monday who had such an amazing voice and even called up some fellow Duke engagers to sing with her to make the night even more memorable for all of us. Today we wandered around the Oak Alley plantation and it was absolutely beautiful with these enormous Oak trees that decorated the land and so much history within the entire planation area. I ended up getting soaked and I mean drenched by the rain but I don’t think it really bothered me at that point. Erica and I even started singing in the rain and laughing our whole way back to the bus. Yes, the bus took us back home- to Loyola. It might only be our home for another two weeks, but it’s where we’ve been able to experience a kitchen flooding, a power outage, pretty epic movie nights, and some hilarious hang out sessions with the most amazing group of people ever. |