The Ninth Ward, a long forgotten area in New Orleans, has still not received help after Hurricane Katrina and remains desperate for a clean-up after the devastating flooding in 2005. Some of the buildings are empty, filled with an abandoned-yet-lingering presence of its former inhabitants.

The Ninth Ward is one of the poorest areas in New Orleans. However, very few groups have helped to rebuild The Ninth Ward, and there has been a debate whether people should fix The Ninth Ward at all. Mark Davis, from Tulane University, is one volunteer who has been helping rebuild The Ninth Ward.  There also is a website to help rebuild The Ninth Ward called lowernine.org.

“Our work will be done– when we stop getting calls from people saying, ‘I want to get back in my house.’  And that’s not happening yet,” Laura Paul, a volunteer helping rebuild New Orleans, said.

“We have a lot of people who would love to get home and have no resources.”

“With private donations and volunteer labor, Paul has restored over 60 homes, including 54-year-old Eula White’s, who moved back six years-ago,” said John Carlos Frey, an active volunteer.  Although some work has been done there, many residents haven’t returned to the Ninth Ward. The Ninth Ward still has a very high crime rate.

Joseph and many other residents feel that the Lower Ninth Ward was left out of the massive efforts underway to rebuild New Orleans, while nearby white communities and neighborhoods around the historic French Quarter were rebuilt, said John Carlos Frey.