German reporters interview Pastor Heinz Neumann of New Orleans' Deutsche Seemannsmission Residents give witness to Reverend Haywood's prayers and comments about the recovery

International Press Corps in the Lower Ninth Ward

For the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the United States Department of State asked Louisiana folklorist Laura Westbrook to gather a diverse group of area residents who could speak with members of the International Press Corps. The foreign journalists wanted to tour Lakeview and the lower Ninth Ward in Orleans Parish. They also hoped to interview Orleans Parish residents of their own cultural heritage so that they could report to readers at home about how their countrymen in Louisiana fared during and after the devastating hurricanes. Dr. Westbrook invited a number of locals to visit with reporters from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Guinea, India, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.

Gathered at the New Israel Baptist Church in the lower Ninth Ward, the foreign reporters and Ninth Ward residents listened to Pastor Douglas Haywood as he gave thanks for the numerous helpers who have come to work on his church and the neighborhood, most recently groups of Unitarian teens from around the country. Reverend Haywood also described the ways in which Ninth Ward residents are coping with events of the past two years. People from the neighborhood joined in and shared their experiences. Next Dr. Westbrook spoke very generally about reconstruction efforts among Louisiana's coastal communities. Finally, and for the bulk of the evening, the journalists were able to locate guests who hail from their own countries, or who are descendants of emigrants from their countries. For those unfamiliar with press junkets, this resembled a frenzy of interviewing. These interviews provided opportunities for the journalists to offer support to their countrymen in Louisiana, and for local residents to understand that the people from home (or the home of their ancestors) remain interested in our situation and our progress. There are no sizable communities in the Greater New Orleans region from some of the countries represented by journalists, so these journalists interviewed Ninth Ward neighbors. Anthropologist Dr. Kathleen Carlin helped journalists understand the challenges faced by the Vietnamese community in New Orleans East. It was difficult to tear some of the interviewers away from their subjects; only the promise of traditional New Orleans cooking finally got them back on the press bus.