12/26/2004; 8/29/2005; 3/11/2011-common experiences shared

This afternoon we showed video footage of the 2004 Tsunami, Katrina, and the recent Tsunami in Japan to about 15 Burmese high school students as part of their "summer camp" classes. We showed them where we are from on google earth and what New Orleans went through as a result of the "cyclone". We gave them seven books that were a result of New Orleans Neighborhood Story Project, where students, their same ages, wrote about their own experiences before and after Katrina.

Ranging from 16 to 18 years of age, some of these teens were in Phang Nga during the Tsunami. As we showed the videos of Katrina, the word "Tsunami" was expressed by many; they immediatley recognized the similarities between each of the disasters. The Burmese students have pen pals from Japan who visited them recently so the recent Tsunami has touched them greatly.

Before our next session, we asked that they contemplate what about themselves they might want to share with students from both New Orleans and Japan. They will read the books we gave them and they may create their own "neighborhood story".