Sandy Rosenthal center meets with visitors from Africa who were in New Orleans as part of a special program with the U.S Department of State

Today, Sandy Rosenthal, founder of Levees.org met with a group of sixteen visitors from Africa including two interpreters.

The visitors were in New Orleans as part of a special program with the U.S Department of State. They requested to meet with Rosenthal to a discuss the group’s grassroots work in holding the federal government accountable. They were also interested in the organization’s current relationship with the Army Corps.

Ms. Rosenthal met the group at the outdoor Levee Exhibit Hall and Garden at 5000 Warrington Drive in Gentilly, the site of one of the most severe levee breaches during Katrina.

In addition to the group’s requests, she spoke on Levees.org’s work in exposing the Army Corps of Engineers levee building mistakes and its campaign after Katrina to cover them up.

The group included representatives from Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Comors, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, South African and Zimbabwe.

The presentation was organized through the New Orleans Citizen Diplomacy Council which is a nonprofit organization that arranges professional appointments and cultural activities for over 500 international leaders sent to New Orleans annually by the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program and other programs.

As one of approximately 90 councils nationwide, and the only council in Louisiana, the NOCDC aims to promote cross-cultural relationships and mutual understanding.