That was the plan until I got a call from our volunteer coordinator offering another project if we were interested. We talked about it, discussed the pros and cons, the safety issues, learned a little more about the actual events taking place and unanimously agreed that this new project was what we wanted to do and what we needed to do today.
So today we walked the streets of the Lower 9th Ward and into the houses and onto the porches of the amazing people who call this devastated but hopeful community their home. We also knocked on doors of folks who did not answer and walked past as many lots that once were homes but are now nothing but a concrete slab and a few wooden beams.
We volunteered on behalf of the Lower 9th Ward Community School Board to go door to door to get residents sign a petition in hopes of having enough signatures to prove to the government that more schools need to be revitalized and reopened in the area.
The situation and statistics are outrageous, infuriating and sad. In a nutshell, prior to Katrina there were about 8 schools operating within the Lower 9th. Today only one is operating, it is overflowing with students and has a waiting list of 350 kids to attend that school. This school is the MLK Charter School and is only in operation because of civil disorder {residents busting open the doors, volunteering their time and money to get the school running again}.
You see, after the storm, FEMA allocated approximately 82 million dollars to go to the rebuilding of schools in this parish. However, due to a corrupt government and a variety of other unknown variables, the money has been granted to a handful of schools in other parts of town but none of the schools in the Lower 9th have been given any help. The Government has now identified 3 Phases of rebuilding and revitalizing. The 82 million dollars has supposedly been allocated to {undisclosed} projects in Phase 1. However, the schools of the Lower 9th Ward have been pushed to Phase 3....yet there isn't even any money on the table at all for Phase 2. From what we understand, the government's reasoning for not moving forward with any of the rebuilding is because there isn't any proof or hard facts about the number of people who are living back in the Lower 9th, therefore the "need" for the school cannot be justified.
So that's where the petitions will hopefully help...gathering signatures of residents and having those with children to identify the number of children along with their age and grade.
I wish I could write or even remotely scratch the surface and give justice to the stories we heard, the heartbreak the anger....the hope and support. The tears shed, the gifts given by strangers and most of all the new light and appreciation we experienced today.
Undoubtedly, we were all quite uneasy and a bit intimated about this task. We've heard the same things you have about the Lower 9th Ward...we've seen it on t.v., we've heard the statistics and we've had a taste of it the two days before. BUT, after gaining the courage and confidence to knock on doors, give a spill and many times be welcomed inside to sit down, we learned about a Lower 9th Ward you don't see on the news.
This is a community. And a strong one.
These sets of city blocks are home to thousands of people. Made up of homes they had to leave but have chosen to come back to.
It's home to a set of caucasian women who made the choice to move from the suburbs to the Lower 9th because they loved the rally of the community.
There was a sense of calm in the quiet air that simply spoke volumes as we walked down the middle of the streets.
These people have a story to tell. Every single one of them. Their lives are different now and will never be the same. They lost neighbors who weren't able to leave, though everyday they must look at their dilapidated homes and the spray painted symbol accompanying the boarded up windows identifying the number of people and animals found dead. Some came back as soon as they could, yet one elderly woman moved back only 2 weeks ago, as she has spent the last 4 years in a FEMA trailer in Baton Rouge.
Some individual, some conversation or some image from our time today will be etched into the minds of each of we eighteen women forever. Hopefully we put even a small dent in the number of signatures needed...but this experience today was the perfect trifecta to a service project weekend we will never forget:
planting trees to help the environment
taking part in the effort to erect a church & community center
and
being humbled, inspired and educated by the people, the survivors and the heroes of a city filled with tragedy but overflowing with hope.
*several of the girls will be submitting reflections and reviews in their own words over the next few days....stay tuned.
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