SO TO SPEAK

Hopeful inventor inspired by Katrina

Thursday, May 11, 2006

JOE BLUNDO

RENEE SAUER | DISPATCH

Amira Muhsen, 10, with the Zip ’n’ Go, her invention inspired by the Hurricane Katrina evacuation

Even the ugly clouds that descended on New Orleans in September had silver linings.

Amira Muhsen, 10, found inspiration in the hurricane evacuation. In fact, the hurricane might help send her to college.

She is the daughter of Reem and Basem Muhsen of Terrytown, a suburb of New Orleans. As residents of the vulnerable Gulf Coast, Mr. and Mrs. Muhsen and their three children are veterans of several hurricane evacuations.

In September, they left Terrytown just before the mandatory evacuation order was issued for Katrina.

‘‘We really thought we were just going to Houston for a couple of days," Mrs. Muhsen said.

When it became obvious that there would be no quick return, the Muhsens headed north to Columbus, where her parents, Najwa and Akram Humeidan, live.

Mr. Muhsen went back to Louisiana several days later to tend to their damaged home and restaurant, the Sunnyside Cafe. The rest of the family has lived in Columbus for nine months.

Amira, known as Mia to her classmates, enrolled in the fifth grade at Alpine Elementary, a Columbus school that participates in the annual Invention Convention, a contest for child inventors. She didn’t have to think long about what to create.

‘‘I knew I wanted to invent something that would help us evacuate."

Her invention is called the Zip ’n’ Go. It’s a fabric drawer liner with a zipper and handles. Anyone in a hurry can just zip up the contents of a drawer and leave.

Amira, who has taken sewing classes, worked with her grandmother to produce a prototype.

The Zip ’n’ Go earned high honors at her school and a district contest.

On May 20, the invention will compete against 400 others at the Columbus regional finals in Veterans Memorial, 300 W. Broad St. The winner will receive $10,000 in college tuition credits from the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority.

Whether Amira wins, her family will leave Columbus with good memories.

Mrs. Muhsen said she and the children grew closer to their grandparents and were happy in the Columbus Public Schools. Ramzy, 13, attends Woodward Park Middle School; Rommy, 7, attends Alpine.

The family has also received support from the Katrina Resettlement Project, a coalition of agencies formed to help evacuees. In March, seven months after the evacuation, the project was helping about 90 families with housing, job counseling, emergency travel aid, household goods and other assistance.

Mrs. Muhsen said her family has been more fortunate than most others in not needing a lot of help. But the hurricane was still a hardship: The cost of repairing the house and replacing furnishings exceeded the insurance settlement, and Mr. Muhsen’s restaurant was damaged and its employees were scattered by the storm.

Mrs. Muhsen said the resettlement project gave her family a $250 gift certificate to buy school supplies and necessities, and also offered emotional support.

"It was just good having someone who understood what we were going through," she said.

The Muhsens will leave for home in June after school ends in Columbus. But it won’t be a zip-’n’-go experience, Amira and her siblings said. They made a lot of friends, and it will be difficult to say goodbye.

Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist.

jblundo@dispatch.com