19 FEB 2008

Kelly was four months pregnant with Sebastianne when Katrina hit. With only a three pronged garden tool, she spent hours in her attic carving away at her old wooden roof to escape her flooding home. When the water started bubbling at the floor beneath her, she finally broke through. After days on the roof, she was rescued.

Sebastianne, now 2 years old, will only ever know New Orleans post Katrina. Soon, she and her family will move from their Fema trailor into our project home. She will run around on the floors we laid and she will bump into the walls we painted. That is a pretty awesome feeling.



Meet Sebastianne:






And meet Avienda, Sebastianne's older sister and storyteller:



Last November, Michael and I spent several evenings driving through the Lower Ninth after work. For what little Katrina left behind, it seems there is still so much to see. We have many photos of the quiet and overgrown landscape at dusk. Each time we drive the same streets but notice new and unsettling details.

Jaime