New Orleans

Alright, so I didn't make it onto the show, for some reason they wanted to focus on the heroes...

Watching the show was a very surreal experience. I became very aware of how normal everyone was, from the celebrities, to the heroes, everyone there was a normal person who the media tries to paint as a demi-god.

If they're demi-gods then why honour their work? But they're normal, down to earth, people.

Liz McCartney (the one who won) is a phenomenal person. Her and her boyfriend/ co-founder were two of the most inspirational people I've met. Not because they're great orators, or overly charismatic, but because they're normal.

We spent a week in New Orleans working alongside the couple and their organisation, and honestly, I think it was one of the most bizarrely overwhelming experiences of my life. The contrast between the lively culture of downtown New Orleans, and the desolation of the areas we were helping rebuild was phenominal.

House after shell of a house, person after person, desperate for some grasp on why, three years later, they still hadn't seen any of the help that they presumed their country would give them.

The resounding shadow of disbelief hung in the air, mingled with the smell of mildew and mold from the abandoned - how could this happen in America?

But in amongst all this there was hope. Like a small green shoot, fighting it's way through the ice. Small, but brutally determined. This generation has resigned to the fact that they will may never see 'home' in their lifetime, but they are determined, with the little they have left, that there is a future.

We worked on a house in a street of shells. There was nothing but residue. The whole block echoed a similar picture. But the house across the street had been rebuilt. A few children played quietly in the yard and the mother was expecting another. I couldn't imagine what it must be like to be a kid growing up on that street. It was silent. There were nothing lived there.

But this family had hope. They were one of the fortunate ones who had somehow made it out of a trailer. And they knew that however long it took there would be life here again.

When faced with all that (and there was a hellofa lot more that would turn this post into a novel) some of the team would cry on the trip from the site back to where we were staying, others would talk about what they'd seen, trying to process or find some rationalisation. I took photos and am still trying to figure it all out.

But Liz and Zach live eat and breathe helping people there. They didn't stop to figure it out, they saw a need and went to try and fix it. 'this is a solvable problem' was the statement they used and they were right, but for two people to have the faith to pack up their lives and start to find a way to solve it blows my mind.

They're amazing and truly deserved the award. The people of New Orleans deserve the award.