I went New Orleans a year after Hurricane Katrina. I was shocked and saddened to see how much destruction and devastation had occurred in this city. To see what Mother Nature could do. I also saw God work through 35 students and their leaders. God touched my heart there and I've always had the desire to return to New Orleans and that opportunity came again this past spring break.
About 2 weeks before my spring break my friends Brad and Stephanie were talking about going to New Orleans and how everything was just being placed in their laps, such as transportation down there and an awesome organization to work with. They wanted everyone to have the opportunity to come with so they asked if I wanted to go and my heart leapt at the chance to go back. I prayed about it for a few days to make sure that it was something God could want me to do. And I felt that God was leading me back down there.
So on March 12, the day after I finished my student teaching fyi, we headed down to New Orleans. We hit a little bit of car trouble in Memphis but God answered prayer and our car started again. At 11PM we were pulling into New Orleans, LA and all the memories came flooding back. I was excited for the next week and what we would end up doing. We were staying in the Lower 9th Ward at the Lower 9th Ward Village which is an AMAZING organization. The story behind The Village is an awesome one and there is so much to share about it but it's an awesome place that wants to see it's community come back together. It takes a village to raise child. They are a community center/transitional housing/awesome place to be. Mack is the executive director and his brother Joe moved to NOLA 6 months ago to help his brother run the village.
During the week that I was there we cleaned out lots...the exact same thing I was doing 5 years ago. We cleaned out a lot that hadn't been touched in 6 years. 6 YEARS! How is that possible? How can there still be so much undone down in NOLA? In the Lower 9th Ward they only have 1 school open. 1 school for all the elementary and high school age kids. That just really bothers me. There are so many people that want to return home, to return to the houses that they had to abandon 6 years ago. There are some that have not returned and do not wish to return but there are a number of families that do want to return. There are some people who have returned but have no where to go, they can't return to their lot because it is so over grown with weeds and rubble or the government has overtaken it and they have to buy it back.
There is so much wrong in the city but there is so much hope and so much life coming back. The Village gave me hope. Mack, Joe, Andre, Kenneth, and Lamar gave me hope that there were people still there that are going to fight for their city. They are putting together a plan of how to help people in a disaster area. How to get their communities back together. I am part of that blue print. I am a part of The Village family and I miss them. I miss that family down there and I definitely want to return to them as soon as I possibly can.
The group with Mack and Joe.
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