My team and I stopped at Cafe Du Monde in NOLA during our service trip for our fight against hunger. It was great to experience how different NOLA’s culture was compared to our own even though were only 1,000 miles apart. The city and the art are incredibly beautiful and allowed us to have a deeper understanding of complex social situations.
We learned that after hurricane Katrina struck havoc on this wonderful city, hordes of volunteers flooded the streets. While the meaning behind it was nice since people wanted to help, there was research conducted that much more could have been re-built and saved if money was simply donated. This impacted our view on service and what a community truly needed verses what people think they need. This is considered the hero complex where people often do what they think is best but ultimately it does not have the impact that was intended since it was not exactly what the community needed at that time. What happened to NOLA is a prime example of this.
