He may have been too young to remember the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, but at 20 years old, Willie Giles has seen firsthand the recovery work of his 9th Ward community.
“A lot of people are still more shocked on why we’re still here,” said Giles. “But I try to let them know, ‘Hey, this is our home, and this is what we do.’ You know, we’re going to keep going, and God is always in control.”
Giles was 1 week old when the floodwaters of Katrina inundated his neighborhood.
His mother, who was postpartum and recovering from a cesarean section, planned to stay.
“It is a pretty common thing around his area to stay put during storms. Not a lot of people have the expenses and the opportunity to evacuate,” said Giles. “So, she had a plan on staying here.”
And instead of riding it out, his grandmother rode in.
“She drove towards the storm to come and rescue both of us,” said Giles. “When she got here, she’s like, ‘Look, you got to come with me. The baby’s going to come with me. You can stay here, but the baby’s going to come with me because, you know, it’s going to get bad.'”
They managed to escape. In the years that followed, he and his family worked to bring their properties back, including the apartment he was first brought to as a newborn.
“I had the faith to believe we could bring it back to life, and I had promised my husband that we can do this,” said Giles’ grandmother in the documentary he created.
Giles has taken to social media and YouTube to educate and encourage others to continue the 9th Ward’s recovery after Katrina.
He is chronicling how far this community has come, the strength of its people and the needs that remain.
“How strong we are because we still here, we’re still building, and we’re not going nowhere,” said Giles. “Keep taking a step forward, keep using their voice, keep using the power and the strength that they have, that God gave them to make moves and, you know, if you see something that needs to get done, get it done.”
And for Giles, or Will as he calls himself on his channel, he believes we “Will” keep going.
