Tuesday (Photo Time!)

Today was our first official workday on site. I was so excited to get to work! There were four photographers each with an assistant, 8 editors, and a large prayer team. The prayer team was there to talk to the families while they waited for their photos to be edited. It was a great idea because the prayer team really got to learn more about the families and hear their stories and later share them with us.

Bein silly
Andre doin' somethin' crazy :)

grrr

hard at work editing and textin' lol

We must have been looking at somthing funny

We really weren't too busy the first day. To my surprise I was actually able to take some of the family portraits instead of just editing. I've never been in a setting like this before, even to just watch and see how it's done. So I was definitely nervous. I wanted more for these pictures to turn out amazing for the families than I wanted to snap pictures of people. One of the first people I had the opportunity to photograph is the person I will remember most from this trip. Her story is powerful and I will absolutely never forget it. She deserves her own post though so look for a post named "Ms. Sonya" to read about it.

Luckily with the day being slow I was also about to go out into the Sanctuary where people were waiting to talk to some locals. I met a woman named Annie Montana, pictured below:

Annie was one of those people you can just feel the warmth coming from immediately. A woman you wished was your grandmother because she probably whips up the most comforting meal when you're sick. You can see the warmth and compassion in her eyes. Her story goes a little something like this:

Annie was one of the last to evacuate before Katrina. She asked her husband when it was announced that it would hit New Orleans if they should leave the area. He responded with a "Heck naw I ain't leavin' my home. It'll blow over like it always does." Annie described that, that was just how her husband is; stubborn. As the days went on and the reports grew more and more serious her family in Florida convinced Annie and the family to seek shelter from the storm with them. So that's what they did, they packed up everything they could and headed east in three cars. One carrying Annie and husband, the other Annie's son, and the last Annie's sister and husband. A trip that normally would have taken 3 hours took them 14 1/2 hours. The traffic was bumper to bumper and her husband suggested they turn around several times. They stayed on track though, Annie knew they needed to get out of the city and that things were going to go from bad to worse. Halfway through their trip to Florida Annie's son's windshield wipers broke. Remember, he's driving alone, through a hurricane. Annie started to cry as she told me her fear for her son's life. The thoughts of the events she endured five years ago were still fresh in her mind. She watched through the rear view mirror as her son was able to still stay on track. She cried and she told me God did that. God made sure her son could see enough to make it to Florida safely. Annie never once said God destroyed my house in the storm, God broke my son's windshield wipers; she never questioned "why?"

I heard countless stories like that this week. It really changes your outlook, it really changes you. The last thing I wanted to do was come home and listen to the same old thing. Deal with the same old laziness. Same old negativity, that I knew would inevitably happen.

Ms. Sonya

Today was by far amazing. It has more than inspired me to give this trip 110%. The tour yesterday was a definite eye opener. Today was so much more than that.




My first experience started with Sonya. Ms. Sonya is a truly remarkable person and just so incredibly inspiring. I actually was able to step out of my editing role for a little bit and was able to photograph her. She was a little shy at first but we were able to open her up some and get her to show a little of her personality. We came away with some really nice shots. While photographing her I noticed she wouldn’t use an open mouth smile which I assumed meant maybe she wasn’t happy with her teeth. I didn’t pry I just went with it.



While I was editing her photos a member of the prayer team, Nick, was able to talk to Sonya about her story; about what taking these pictures meant to her. Sonya told Nick a heartbreaking story:



The pictures meant more to Sonya than we could have imagined. She told Nick that she hadn’t smiled in 8 months. Not because of Katrina (which she most definitely experienced,) not because of a lost home or family. A few years after Katrina Sonya had been shot by the father of her only son. She heard a noise coming from the kitchen one night and when she made it to the kitchen she found her window wide open. In New Orleans many people nail their windows shut and that’s what Sonya did, so there was no reason for that window to be open. She went back to the window to shut it and when she turned around her face met the barrel of a loaded gun. No sooner than she raised her hands to block her face, her child’s father pulled the trigger. Sonya told Nick as soon as she realized she was still alive, she immediately thought of her baby. He was still in the house. Although she was still breathing, her brain was still functioning; she could not move or speak. She said all she could do was pray about it. She prayed that God would will her to get up, God would will her to be able to get to her baby before he did. Sonya made it up and ran through her house searching for her son. Sonya ran through every room of the house searching everywhere; her son was nowhere to be found. She ran to her room and fell to the ground with her hands on the foot of her bed to pray again. Pleading with God for her son, just then she felt her sons feet under her covers and found his hiding spot. When he heard the gun shot he ran and hid under the covers in his mother’s room. Her 7 year old son saw Sonya’s face, something undoubtedly he will remember forever. His mother, unable to speak, crying at the foot of her bed, his father the one that inflicted this pain. I can’t begin to imagine what that felt like for either of them. I can’t tell you how much hearing that story broke my heart. Unspeakable pain that you and I may never have to face. Sonya faced Katrina and that horrifying night. She hadn’t smiled in 8 months because she had several reconstructive surgeries and was still missing two of her front teeth from the gunshot wound.



Today Sonya smiled again today and I was able to contribute to that; and words cannot begin to express just how thankful for it. I'm also thankful that Ms. Sonya came and visited me every day. She was volunteering for the week at Vocational Bible School which was held in at FABC as well. We talked about her pictures, she told me how much she enjoyed volunteering with us, how much she enjoyed service at FABC and also told me where I could go online to watch the service each week if I chose to. Ms. Sonya, you are an absolutely amazing inspiration! To see you serve with such spirit. To see you smile, not complain, after all you’ve been through just moves me completely. If I would have only encountered your faith on this trip, it would have been more than enough. to change my heart.

This picture is my absolute favorite of the week. This is the best picture of her looking proud and smiling big :)

Goofing off trying to get her to smile, lol

Moose posin' with her

The Foundry (Monday Night)

After going over to Franklin Avenue Baptist Church (FABC) to set up our 'photo studios' we had just enough time to run back to the hotel and get washed up to head to The Foundry (http://www.thefoundryvenue.com/) for dinner.

The Foundry isn't a restaurant or anything. It's a space that can be rented out to throw parties. So a catering company called Bella Luna came and supplied us with tasty New Orleans cuisine pictured below:

Who knew I could enjoy beans! I need to find a recipe :)

It was only a couple blocks away so we took advantage of the free happy hour that Embassy Suites has every day from 5:30-7. With my cup full of sprite, grenadine, and Ciroc coconut my go group and I walked to St. Joseph St. for great food and music. I had such a great time at the Foundry. It was the only night of the week that I actually got pretty tipsy (5:45am comes pretty early so I had to slow it down!)

A band called New Birth Brass Band (http://www.thenewbirthbrassband.com/) played while we ate and continued on into the night for dancing. This may very well have been the night that I really fell in love with New Orleans. The atmosphere was so enticing. The music, the food, the dancing, just the warm feeling in the air, and I'm not talking about the Nola heat. At the end of the night the band marched around the room with the crowd following behind, the night ended in the streets of Nola with the band playing outside and everyone dancing around them. I'd never seen anything like it. The people were so grateful for us to be there and we were so much more grateful for the warm welcome.

I bought their CD and LOVE listening to it. Brings me back to one of my favorite nights in The Big Easy.

Oh yeah and I went to a cigar bar and yes I smoked a cigar, lol. That was for you grandpa!

The lovely Adria and I

Melba Leggett (Make it Right)

As a side note Melba had her portraits taken at FABC. I shot her pictures! Take a look below :)

Originally Melba Leggett did not want to evacuate. She heard Mayor Nagin’s evacuation order on television, but decided with her husband to stay home and ride out the storm. Early the next morning, as Ms. Leggett watched the local news, she looked at the route the storm was taking and knew that she and her husband, Baxter Barnes, had to leave. After convincing her husband that they needed to flee the city, they packed their valuables and headed to Baker, Louisiana where they stayed with one of her cousins. Ms. Leggett and her husband went to bed the next night and were awakened by her cousin who showed them news footage of the levee break. Later that evening, Hurricane Katrina ripped through Baker and they lost electricity and water. The next day, Ms. Leggett’s daughter who was living in North Carolina called and made plans to travel to Louisiana to get the family. She and her husband returned with her daughter to North Carolina on September 4, where they lived until August 2008.

Ms. Leggett and her family have lived in the Lower 9th Ward since 1977, when her mother bought their home from one of her cousins. She remembers that everyone in the neighborhood was “like family” and all of the similarly aged kids hung out together. In her case, it was very literal; Ms. Leggett had six cousins that lived on Tennessee Street. Everyone knew everyone. According to Ms. Leggett, the preacher that lived next door to her baptized her son, and the preacher that lived further up the street officiated over her daughter’s wedding. She remembers children growing up and coming back to live in the neighborhood.

Ms. Leggett loved where she resided while in North Carolina. She remembers strangers giving her clothes and shoes (she and her husband had left them behind) following the disaster. While she is thankful for the kindness shown to her by those along her travel, Ms. Leggett longs to return to the neighborhood she calls home.

Robert Lynn Green Sr. (Make it Right)

"Robert Lynn Green Sr. has lived in the Lower 9th Ward for more than 40 years. He evacuated briefly for Hurricane Katrina, but returned to Louisiana weeks later despite tragic losses.

Green recalls playing football in the street with area children, attending church with neighboring families and playing in the Lawless High School band during his youth in the Lower 9th Ward. “We were all the same family,” said Green. “We had family ties.” Green also remembers his granddaughters growing up in the area. They would walk and say hello to all the elders in the neighborhood.

In preparation for Hurricane Katrina, Green and his family, including his granddaughters and his elderly mother, planned to evacuate to Nashville, Tennessee. They ran into traffic, however, and turned back because his mother was ill.

The family sought refuge at the Louisiana Superdome along with other New Orleanians. According to Green, because his mother had Parkinson’s disease, the relief workers in the special needs section of the Superdome were not prepared to care for her. The family was told to return home and asked to come back the next day. Unfortunately, Green and his family were trapped in their home and could not return the following day for help.

Around four o’clock in the morning, Green’s brother woke him from his sleep to inform him that the water was rising. The family went to the attic and later had to break through the roof to escape the flooded home. “It was like we were looking at Lake Pontchartrain,” said Green of his view from the roof. The house floated from 1826 Tennessee Street to the 1600 block of Tennessee Street. “While we were on the roof, the house broke from underneath us,” said Green. They went from the roof of a house to the roof of a car. During the transition, Green’s four-year-old granddaughter was whisked away by the current and his mother—who had to be rescued and revived three times—died.

Soon after, Green and his family were rescued and taken to the Louisiana Superdome and flown to Nashville, Tennessee by his brother’s employer. After leaving the airport, Green went directly to the hospital and into surgery to treat his hand that was injured during the flood. Green was in Tennessee for 30 days. He endeavored to purchase a home and start a business in the new city, when he received word that his granddaughter’s body was found. Mr. Green halted his plans for relocation to Tennessee and moved toBaton Rouge, Louisiana. Upon his return to Louisiana, Green traveled to New Orleans and found his mother’s body at 1617 Tennessee Street where the home was pushed by floodwaters."

See some pictures from Robert's home 5 years later in "Katrina Tour Pictures"

Make it Right

On our tour of the lower ninth ward in New Orleans we learned about a program started by Brad Pitt in December of 2007. He toured the area and found that the once vibrant neighborhood was still left in ruins; failed by our government. Pitt vowed to build 150 green, affordable, high-quality design homes in the neighborhood closest to the levee breach.

From Make it Right's Website:

"Since then, 21 local, national and international architects have donated designs for single family and duplexes to Make It Right. By December 2009, there will be 50 homes on the site; by December 2010, there will be 150. Because all of the homes built to date have been certified as LEED platinum for their energy efficiency and sustainability, the Make It Right community is now the “largest, greenest neighborhood of single family homes in America,” according to the U.S. Green Building Council."

They still need your help!!! Click the link below to make a donation, please remember that no donation is too small...
https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/MakeItRightFoundation/Donate.html

The following posts will contain real stories of people that are benefiting from this incredible program.

Hurricane Katrina Tour-Pics (Monday Morning)

The levees and the concrete walls that were supposed to hold the hurricane waters. This is where one of the worst breaches occured... Behind the street signs on the right is a memorial to those who lost their lives. It says I am coming home! I will rebuild! I am New Orleans!

A beautiful new school built, in the midst of many houses still like the ones pictured here.

Only the Foundation Left

Robert Lynn Green Sr. still has this sitting outside of where his home stood. It is a memorial to his grandmother and granddaughter who both died on August 29, 2005. See 'Make it Right Nola' for more information on his story.

More of Mr. Green's memorial
Written on the side of Mr. Green's trailer
Countless homes still had the 'X' markings. Notating the date the house was searched, how many dead bodies were found, as well as the team conducting the search.

The once thriving shopping center pictured used to hold popular stores, is still boarded up five years later.

This land used to be several people's homes.
Many homes were spray painted with people's names or notes were written to the decease.


Brad Pitt came to New Orleans 2 years after the storm and was horrified to see so that many neighborhoods looked exactly as they did after the storm. He started a project called "Make it Right" some of the homes are pictured below. Look for the post named 'Make it Right" for information on the project!