This fall, thanks to the efforts of Rebuilding Together and donations from Sears, four generations of Ruffin women will be back in their home on Feliciana Street in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans.
Lois Ruffin (below), bought the two-story house in 1998. She wanted to give her mother, Lula, a home of her own, and she didn’t want her kids growing up in the bad neighborhoods of the Big Easy that she refers to as the “ghetto.” She and Lula raised her daughter Riandra (right) under that roof, and Lois likes to brag about how well Riandra turned out because of it. Riandra gets annoyed when her mother uses the word “ghetto,” but she typically lets it slide.
Two days before the worst of Hurricane Katrina hit their neighborhood, the women, Lois, Lula, Riandra and Riandra’s one-year-old daughter, Aspin, fled the city. They didn’t normally evacuate during storms, but Riandra had a feeling about this one.
Within a month they learned that their house was practically gutted from the flood waters. Looks are deceiving in the Gentilly neighborhood. From the outside most houses appear perfectly fine, except for a big black X across the facade, denoting when the property was checked by city authorities after the storm. But that’s just the shell. Inside these homes nothing was left. The women made new lives for themselves in different parts of the country, unsure if they would ever return to the home that Lois bought for them.
Even though the three women scattered across the South, they remained close. They talked every day and never gave up hope that they could eventually come home. The dream recently became a reality. Very shortly all of them will move back into 4930 Feliciana. Lula (right) will fulfill Lois’ dream of living in a house the family owns. Riandra won’t live in any kind of “ghetto” that her mother despises and Aspin will get to live in a home with three strong women who prove that obstacles can indeed be overcome.
Screengrabs via YouTube.