Katelyn Nicosia

The little time I have spent in the Lower Ninth Ward and New Orleans in general has truly been an eye opening experience. On the bus tour we went on during the beginning of our stay, I was exposed to the poverty that these citizens have been living in since Hurricane Katrina. There were so many vacant lots where houses have been knocked down due to their desertion and their disastrous state. The houses that were left standing from the hurricane were probably in no better state than the houses that were torn down already. The one house that we stepped off of the bus to visit was devastating. There were holes in the roof where the people previously living in the house had tried to escape out of when the water was rising during the hurricane. The pipes were sticking out of the walls of the house and there were no windows still intact. There also were weeds and bushes growing onto the house. It was clear that there wasn’t a relief program still in place to clean up the houses and get the New Orleans citizens back in their homes. Seeing the many, many houses and buildings that were still in the uninhabitable state like the house described above really inspired me and got me excited to be working with WPI’s Habitat for Humanity even more than I previously was.

During the bus tour, Mack also talked with us about the schooling in the Lower Ninth Ward. He told us that prior to Katrina there seven schools throughout the city. Now,a there is one school that is Kindergarten through twelfth grade. Mack told us that he believes this is a root cause of the problems still remaining in this area. I agree that if children were getting educated like most children in America are then there would be less crime on the streets and more improvement. I think this is why Mack is working on making this community center for children because he wants to help the children have a better life down here. This made me want to really clean up the place and make it possible for children to come here. I know that we all won’t be able to complete everything we want to accomplish since we are only down here for such a short time. However, knowing that we are getting things organized and putting a system in place for the next groups who come makes me very happy with what we are doing. Choosing to come down here with Habitat was one of the best decisions I have made.

For more information about the Lower Ninth Ward Village please visit their website here and if you would like to make a donation, you can do that here.