Day 7

Saturday

03/23/2013

            Today we volunteered at a free health care clinic at Harlan County High School sponsored by R.A.M. (Remote Area Medical). The organization has sponsored similar clinics throughout the country but this was their first time coming to Harlan County. The organizers expected to provide medical services to over 1000 people from Harlan and the surrounding counties throughout the weekend. The success of the clinic depended largely on the 300+ volunteers, including many students from University of Louisville and University of Kentucky.

            We arrived at the high school around 5:30 this morning. We checked in, got our t-shirts and were immediately assigned duties. Most of us were assigned registration, while others helped with directing dental patients. This was a great opportunity for us to talk to members of the community and gain a better insight into what life is like for the people here. Once registration slowed down we were moved around and given new jobs. For some of us this meant helping assemble eye glasses. Others assisted the dentists. The final job was emptying waste collected from the suction. We determined this was the second grossest task of the week - second only to cleaning Ellen’s house.

            While none of us enjoyed waking up at 4:30 in the morning and spending hours on our feet, we all agreed it was well worth it to help make the clinic such a success. All of the procedures provided today were at no cost to the patients, and all of the medical staff were there as unpaid volunteers. On one of our breaks we talked to one of the dental students and she explained her reasons for volunteering her time at the clinic. She explained that she was given these skills in dentistry and felt that more than being given an opportunity to practice her craft she was using her skills to help people that were in need. I think this really summed up the whole trip and reason we came to Harlan. None of us needed to come to Kentucky for our spring break, but we all chose to. We each decided to give up time that we could have spent on ourselves to help and serve others.  

Day 6

Friday 3/22/13 Josh and Miles

Soup kitchen Christ’s Hands

Our group headed over to Christ’s Hands in the morning, a local soup kitchen, to help set up and prepare the day’s meal. Some of us struggled to find hats that fit, while others donned hairnets. Erin’s sunhat and Colleen’s “Touched by the Master” hat were big hits.  Our group split up into stockers, food prep, and cleaners for the night’s dinner.  Miles and Kendra swept the floors, Stephen, Carly, and Josh started the day loading up Kevin’s truck with clothes for good will and stocking inventory. Kevin was one of the co-founders of the soup kitchen, as well as a federal coalmine inspector, and a hell of a nice guy.  After Miles finished cleaning, Kevin recruited him, Josh, and Stephen to drop off the clothes and pick up a TV donation. During the car ride, Kevin gave the trio a brief history of Harlan. He discussed the background of the major and miner landmarks of Harlan, KY and shared some of his own personal stories. He spent one or two summers floating on a sawed-off car roof on the rivers in and out of the city. Miles captured some great footage on the flip cam and the world is a better place for it.

Set up for RAM

            Organized hygiene and extraction stations

            SET UP WATER AND POWER SUPPLY

            Wiped and sterilized tables

            Wiped down autoclaves, multiple times

After our stint at the service of Christ’s Hands, we walked over to Huddle house for some deep-fired pickle slices, commemorative mugs, and irreplaceable memories. After we finished our lunch, we loaded up into the vans, and trucked on over to Harlan County High school, the 78 million dollar, state of the art, high school and home to the fighting black bears. We proceeded to help set up for the free medical, dental, and vision clinic offered that Saturday and Sunday. We began by setting up the chairs and dentist hygiene and extraction stations. Next, we fitted the water and power supply to get the stations up and running, followed by setting up, wiping down, and sterilizing tables. Josh really stepped up by making sure some of the important technical equipment was properly cleaned. Particularly, the autoclaves which he cleaned one no less than four times. Finally, we stocked and organized the materials for the all of the stations on the tables. This task went particularly smoothly thanks to our large numbers and efficient group dynamic. After leaving the high school, our service was done for the day, but our night…was only just beginning.

Our group had our celebratory dinner at El Ranchito, Mexican restaurant and overall good time. We arrived hungry as clams, and the chips our waiter brought out barley made a dent. We proceeded to feast on the delicious yet affordable Mexican cuisine. For most there was too much food, and Miles was determined to let not excess go to waste. To top off our celebration, it was Caf’s birthday, and the lovely, personable, and speedy staff showed us a new meaning to the word “service”, and gave her a free fried, strawberry ice cream treat and sang her happy birthday. It was a fantastic way to celebrate our hard work, the bonds we made with each other, and our appreciation for the trip leaders and everything they have done for us.

Friday was an excellent sample of our experience on our alternative break in Harlan, Kentucky. Listening to Kevin’s stories gave us a better understanding of the culture we have been learning more about all week. We encountered even more people who were friendly, and seemed genuinely happy. This was possibly the biggest contradiction to our expectations we have experience thus far, and it is proved time and time again. Our group also felt very satisfied with our work setting up for RAM, and we felt prepared and excited to volunteer full time at the clinic tomorrow.

El Ranchito

            Too much food

            Miles not enough food

            Caf birthday sung to her

            Mariann jammed out guitar

            Great service, hard to keep the glass empty

Day 5

Today started a bit later than the others. Thursday, being our leisure day, a few of us we were able to make a trip to McDonald’s in the morning to check our email and get breakfast. We were given a chance to see just how small of a town Harlan is when we ran into Jerry (our speaker from two nights before). He spoke to us for a few minutes before heading off to eat his breakfast. Aside from Jerry, a few other patrons rather randomly engaged Kendra, Juliana and myself in conversation. A man named Ralph came up to us and started telling us about his career. He was a bus driver for many years and he used to play pranks on all the kids. After he left, another man came up to us and was talking about the education system in Harlan. He was a teacher and he thought that he system was becoming stagnant because of the bureaucracy. He felt like he wasn’t able to change anything about it. These two people showed us how open and friendly the Harlan population can be.

While we were gone, other participants were playing games and taking their time to sleep in for the only time during the week. Around 12:00 pm, we left for the Kentucky Coal Mine Museum. Katie and Colleen decided to not pay attention to the directions given to them and ended up driving over a half hour in the wrong direction. We were late to the museum but we ended up all being able to fit on the cart at once for the tour. We were driven through Portal 31, the coal mine, and shown a history of coal mining through the years. We headed over to the museum and some of us got a tour of the mock coal mine in there. Other artifacts from the time period were also around the museum and interesting to look at. The tour guide, named Al, was angry that Colleen and Katie were not giving their participants enough time for the tour and kept making fun of them. However, Katie promised to send him a Maryland hat when they got home and he decided to take back everything he said.

We headed over to the Godbey Appalachian Center. Theresa and Alexia showed us around and talked about the art. This was a short visit but it was nice to see an art side of the history and talk to the women who worked there.

After, we went on a short hike in the Kingdom Come National Park. Rick, the park manager, took us around and told us about the history and the plants. This was interesting because we hadn’t gotten a big environmental aspect before. Rick was cracking jokes the whole time and clearly loved his job a lot. It was fun to meet him and hear his story and experience the nature that he loved to talk about. I think we all learned a lot and enjoyed the fresh air on the beautiful mountains, even though it was only 30 degrees out.

Overall, this day was very busy but relaxing as well. It was full of education and different activities that we had not participated in before. 

Day 4

We didn't have Internet again until we got back home to College Park on Sunday night, so here are the posts about what we did the rest of our week!

Wednesday 3/20

     Today half of our group went to the Community Action Agency and continued to work on Tracy’s house in weatherization and the other group worked on cleaning Dorothy’s house. For the house weatherization, we first went to meet David at the main office. While we were waiting for him to come we spoke with Dennis and he was telling us about his experience with mining and the effect it had on his family. Some of the things he told us were that he started mining when he was 18 years old and mined for 20 years. He also described his experience as a miner and how difficult it was to raise a family in Harlan, KY. He talked about how his older brother was killed from a mine explosion that was caused by another miner when he lit a cigarette in the mine. After mining for 20 years, Dennis went to school for two years and studied carpentry in order to find a job. He is now the Director of The Community Action Agency, which is a non-profit organization that helps families in need better insulate their homes.  He was a really important person for us to have met because he showed how an ex-miner could get an education and move on from the mining industry as opposed to the many who stay and don’t pursue an education. After leaving the office we went to Tracy’s house and we replaced her old back door in order to seal in heat in the house and help her save money. We also talked and played basketball with Tracy’s children (Morgan and Justin). We talked about how their older sister was going to graduate high school and go to college and the type of fun activities they did, which turned out to be similar to what we did as kids (playing basketball and video games). They were the only children we have had the opportunity to interact and talk with about how growing up in Harlan is like today.

       The other half went to Dorothy’s house, it was very different from our experience at Ellen’s house. Her daughter Carol was in the house helping her with breakfast. She was an 87 year-old woman who had worked hard all her life. She retired from working as a church treasurer when she was 86 years old when she fell and was put on life support. She told us about her youthful days, her dating life, her marriages, her education and her experiences travelling. The difference we saw at Dorothy’s was the impact of a family member to a senior citizen. Compared to Ellen who we had met earlier in the week, Dorothy had her daughter living close by; she came over to her house to help her perform daily activities. Dorothy was also planning to hopefully travel to Florida soon to visit her grandchild.  Ellen had children too who lived far from her and her companions were dogs, but having us in her house really excited her because she had company in her house. Dorothy spoke of how she supported coal and how she was mad that Obama does not support coal because that is what Harlan is all about. With some of our pre-conceived notions that education was not prevalent in this area, Dorothy had pictures all around her house of her granddaughter’s graduation pictures and proudly spoke of her daughter’s teaching career. This whole experience showed us the difference between having family close to help in old age as opposed to having family far away. We were privileged to have had the opportunity to interact with such an amazing woman who knew so much about the area and to be so welcoming and open to talk to us about her life experience.  

     In the afternoon, we got back together as a group and went to the Harlan County Hospital to meet Mark. He was very friendly and answered all of our inquisitive questions that all of us had very knowledgably.  He talked about details about the hospital, and the type of patients that they usually see. He said that the hospital has treated various kinds of lung diseases, 30 of their 150 beds are for psychiatric care, the physicians were not from the area but most of the other staff members were etc. He talked about the close-knit community and how it is fun to know everyone’s business but the downside was that people knew your business too. He also briefed us on what we will be doing during the free medical clinic. We learned that the main healthcare providers in Harlan county are Medicare and Medicaid and that its very difficult for the hospital to profit from these providers alone.  

Day 3

Tuesday

            Half the group did home weatherization. We put on white jump suits, white face masks and blue gloves that made us look like big awkward marshmallows with blue hands. Some of us had goggles but some goggles were too dirty to use.  We all crawled under the house and covered the ground with tar to keep the moisture in. Then we placed a thick layer of fiber glass on the ceiling below the house. It took around two hours but it was a great experience. We had ten people all working together and our service could reduce the family’s heating costs by 40%.

            Five of us went back to Ellen King’s house to finish cleaning her dog cage and her numerous picture frames. We were glad to be able to go back to Ellen’s house to give her company. She was so grateful that she had someone to talk to and she said that living alone gets lonely. Her stories about her family and obsession with John Wayne were entertaining and she is definitely someone that we will remember. It is so great to see how she can be so happy despite being in the condition she is in.

            We all went hiking on the two trails in Camp Blanton called Nobby Rock and Watt’s Creek. This was an incredible experience and the end of Nobby Rock took us to the edge of a huge boulder which overlooked mountains in the distance. We enjoyed each other’s company on our way through the trails, and we can’t wait to do some more hiking!

            Later, a man named Jerry came to talk to us. He has lived his whole life in Harlan and gives tours at the coal mining museum. He worked in the mines and told us about that, the mining industry and about growing up in Harlan. He talked about how things move a lot slower here, for example, people don't honk at each other while driving. He told us how when he was in Maryland, he noticed how people actually follow the speed limits in there. (Here, they definitely don't--we'll be driving the speed limit and everyone will be passing us on these tiny, windy mountain roads!) He definitely offered a unique perspective, and it was cool seeing his perspective compared to other people we’ve talked to. He gave us a lot of background information about the coal mines to prepare us for Thursday's visit to the mining museum.

-Vicki, Hina and Colleen

Day 2

            The service projects today were home construction and volunteering at and for the senior citizen center. The construction work was on a home to improve their energy bill. Today we put up walls and a ceiling in the bottom level. Also, we put weather strips around the doors. All of the changes we made today would help the house be more energy sufficient. It was great that we got to meet the homeowner. She was very appreciative of what we were doing. She was very positive and extremely friendly. She told us of her life and welcomed us into her home, which was amazing since we just met her and basically invaded her house.

            One question we had when we went to Ellen’s was ‘How could her daughter let her live like that.’ When we first stepped in everyone was shocked by the dog poop on the floor and the conditions she was living in. She took us around her house and she showed us all of her photos. She clearly loves a lot of people; however it is sad because she lives alone. She is not totally alone. She lives with three dogs, but that probably is the cause of the mess. She is unable to take of herself, as well as all of her dogs. We picked up the poop, cleaned the sheets, and wiped down all the surfaces. After cleaning we were sadden by her situation. We thought of if our parents were in that position or even ourselves. What made the experience great was her attitude. Despite her current condition she has a great, fun loving attitude. She constantly made us laugh with her stories and one liners: I would rather being rich than good-looking.

Day 1

Hi! Sorry we haven't posted in a while--we don't have much Internet. We took a break to use McDonald's WiFi, so here is what we've been up to!

DAY 1: SUNDAY- (March 17, 2013).

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! We started the day bright and early and departed University of Maryland at 8am. After 5 hours of driving, we stopped for lunch at a Subway in Virginia. The car ride was spent sleeping, listening to 90’s music, getting to know each other, and eagerly waited to reach the Kentucky line. We were surprised to see the abundance of farms in Virginia, especially since many of us had preconceived notions that it was more urban/suburban. As we got closer to Harlan, there were many scenic views that we never would have thought of. The mountains were beautiful! As we drove closer to the Appalachian area, houses became more run down. However, it was interesting to see that there were some very nice houses that were in the same neighborhood has the smaller houses. There were many churches; one was seen in almost every neighborhood. On the contrary, we only saw one school. Neighborhoods and houses were very spread out. There would be land for many miles, and then a small area with many houses and possibly a church.

            At last, we arrived at Camp Blanton. Absolutely beautiful! John, the director escorted us to where we would be staying for the week. Needless to say, we were all pleasantly surprised. When walking into our cabins, we saw 7 bunk beds, a fireplace, table, outlets, and a beautiful view of the lake. We then took a look at our bathrooms/showers which were much better than expected. Hot water, tiled floors, stalled bathrooms--we were living in luxury! While Aly and Katie shopped for groceries, the rest of us went to explore the area. We visited the campfire, posed in front of a waterfall, and skipped rocks into the lake. After coming back to the cabin we decided to play a game of Mafia. As you can expect, this got very heated. With much convincing and persuasion, the mafia came out with a win. Shortly after the game, dinner was served. There was plenty variety of foods by our best chefs- hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, mac & cheese, salad, and bread with butter. After dinner and some down time, we regrouped and did a group activity where we came up with possible explanations to the question that may be asked by locals, “What are you doing here?” We discussed the difference between serving and helping people here. We emphasized making personal connections and avoiding generalizations by listening to the people’s stories. After a long day, people spent time before bed showering, journaling, and playing cards. Lights out!

Katie and Juliana

Tomorrow!

In about 10 hours, our group will leave for Harlan, Kentucky for our week of service! The focus of our trip is Rural Poverty and Appalachian Culture. Harlan is one of the poorer counties in Appalachia Kentucky, and according to recent data, has had poverty rates more than double the national rate. We will be doing home weatherization, working with the Harlan Senior Center cleaning houses and working at a free medical clinic. We'll also be having educational events, like museum visits and speakers, to learn more about rural poverty and Appalachia culture.