Curiosity

Today we started work in the Common Ground Relief plant nursery with the theme of curiosity in mind. Before we went, we listened to James – the manager of the wetlands – talk about what caused the river to overflow and break the levee back in 2005. We all started doing tasks like weeding, making a pathway, and helping clean around the garden. After lunch some of us went back to the garden, while others helped a local resident plant trees along her property. Helping out in the garden gave us ideas of questions we wanted to ask Thom – the head of Common Ground Relief – later that night. After dinner Thom talked to us about his experience after the hurricane, what he thought needed to be done in order to help repopulate the Lower 9th Ward, and what we can do to help. It was clear from Thom’s presentation that the response to the hurricane was unorganized and inefficient. After that we learned about a presentation we would be doing later this week. Later in the night we began to watch a documentary about Kim, a woman who survived the hurricane who will be meeting tomorrow. We are hoping to learn more about what happened during the hurricane and what we can do to help bring people back to the Lower 9th Ward and protect this area from future flooding.