I was in New Orleans last March on the first relief trip. I attached some pictures of the Lower 9th Ward below from March and then December 10th when I took students down to see what’s left of the community. The changes were intense. There are no words . . .

March 2006 (curtousy of Andy Fitz)

December 10, 2006 - The same area of the Lower 9th Ward, the houses have just been demolished

March 2006 - The mound of dirt at the end of the road is where the levees were breached during the hurricane

December 2006 - The levees as they stand today. They have absolutely no reinforcements and are basically just slabs of cement between the canal and the community. They are level 2 and 3 at various areas along the canal.

This was on the side of the levee, “New Orleans gave me patience and passion”

A sign that says it all, “Rebuild Category 5 Levees”

December 2006 - This house at 6122 N Derbingy belongs to a woman named Lisa. She, her mother, and her aunt used to live here. A white house used to be in the lot to the right of it - it is now demolished and a FEMA trailer stands in its wake. Last spring when I was first down in New Orleans - we spent 4 days working on this house. It was very emotionally taxing as we had to remove all of Lisa’s personal items and throw them away. Through the process we got to know she was very fashionable as she had a closet that took up a whole wall of shoes, hats, and clothes that were so packed in the closet - Whitney Bey and I had a hard time getting them out. The family was very religious and musical. We found and had to throw out about 2 dozen Bibles and even more gospel cassette tapes.

Whitney and I returned to this house about a week ago and peeked inside through the screen door . . . it was exactly the same as it had been when our spring break crew last worked on it in march. The refrigerator that we could not move was still in the same position, the drywall we had not knocked down was still up, and debris was still strewn all over the floor.

One of the changes I did see in the Lower 9th Ward in December compared to March was that there were makeshift street signs, whereas in March - there was nothing

December - A house that was crippled to the ground about two blocks from the levees

December - The interior of the house in the picture above

One of the biggest changes I saw on my trip down there last week was that about 4 crews of FEMA garbage collectors were picking up piles of debris in the Lower 9th Ward. That was unheard of in March.

Never forget New Orleans. There is still so much to do for the rebuilding process and it will take such a long time. Basic freedoms of liberty and shelter are being denied to NOLA residents. This could happen in any American city and is happening in numerous international cities. Please don’t be ignorant about the politics surrounding New Orleans and what’s going on in the world. Read nationally and internationally, do research, know all sides to every issue, stay knowledgeable.