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Cleanup Effort Was Emotional for FAMU Students

By Christina Hordge
Black College Wire

"The Ninth Ward is the worst community, and we are starting there," Ishmael Muhammad, a coordinator for the Legal Work Group Coalition, told 40 students in New Orleans from Florida A&M University. "We are going to work our way from the bottom up."

Muhammad explained how some of the students, who came as part of the "Katrina on the Ground" rebuilding effort over spring break, would experience conditions they might have never seen. He told them they should keep a positive attitude throughout the week.

"Just get into the spirit. Going into the Ninth Ward, you will be seeing dead bodies or potential pieces of body, which is normal in the Ninth Ward and you must be able to deal with these conditions," Muhammad said.

Once students reached New Orleans on March 6, some were shocked to see roofs shattered into pieces and thousands of abandoned cars littered throughout the inner city.

While in the city, students lived in churches and ate at volunteer food service locations on the sides of roads.

Students were given full body suits, two pairs of work gloves, mouth protectors, hard hats and protective gear for their eyes in order to work in the contaminated houses.

Some students said the work touched their emotions.

"Where I'm from, I didn't really deal with too many racial issues," said Ashley Butterfield, 19, a sophomore health care management major from Cocoa Beach, Fla. "It was like 'get over it,' but . . . they really literally left them out to dry," Butterfield said.

Students got a chance to tour several historical sites, including St. Augustine Catholic Church, one of the nation's oldest black Roman Catholic churches.

"I didn't know that New Orleans was so rich in history. The city is a mixture of everybody's history and must be restored," Butterfield said.

In their last days in the city, a wrap-up session was held at Xavier University, which was also victimized by flooding. The session allowed students to reflect on their experience.

Joshua Ward, 21, a senior business marketing student at Morehouse College, explained how grateful he was to participate after resisting several temptations to go on vacation with friends.

"I had both of my roommates trying to persuade me to go to Cancun," said Ward, a native of Dayton, Ohio. "And up until the time it was time to leave . . . he was still trying to get me to change my mind."

Christina Hordge, a student at Florida A&M University, writes for the Famuan. She can be reached at [email protected]

Posted March 20, 2006