Volunteers come from as far as the Middle East to honor Dr. King’s legacy with WWL’s Bill Capo

One of the Martin Luther King Day of Service projects taking place across New Orleans Monday was a Fruit Tree Orchard Planting by NOLA Tree Project. Even a television news reporter from Cairo, Egypt, joined in to help.

“New Orleans is the city of life, you know,” said Hisham Abouelela. He is visiting New Orleans with a 13-member delegation from the Middle East and North Africa through the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program.

“Volunteering and planting some trees with my fellow Americans here was a great experience,” said Abouelela.

 The volunteers planted forty fruit trees at Langston Hughes Academy, the first event in the NOLA Tree Project’s Greaux Healthy Kids Program.

“Picture a child walking down the street to school, and they can just pull a satsuma or an orange, and have that instead of a candy bar,” explained NOLA Tree Project’s Connie Uddo.

Dr. King’s legacy isn’t just felt here, but all over the world.

“His speech ‘I have a Dream,’ it’s in every Arab house, you know that,” said Abouelela.