A Heart 4 People Farm + Meet the BGE Fellow

Muna here, OSW intern and BGE summer fellow, taking over for a special edition Ujima Jam blog entry! I started this entry sitting on a yoga mat on the balcony of my sublet, enjoying a break from the AC (my roommate likes living in an ice box!), and not even halfway through, it started thundering and raining! That is one thing I have had to get used to after living in Los Angeles for the last four years and to be honest, I am lovin’ it!  

“Why would you ever love this humid, bipolar weather!?” you might ask. The rain, the music of the crickets, the way the trees and vines tangle together, even the birds of the DMV, remind me of home. I wrote this poem last July while sitting on my auntie’s balcony in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
 
Orange, pink, red and blue
Clouds playing peek-a-boo with the moon 
The birds sing and play and jest
White light inside grey giants’ thunder
Whispers as rain falls on distant towns
The breeze is a most welcome visitor 
A reminder that everything comes to an end
So death is met with jubilee
As vultures perch on carcasses 
Before morning market, in between green and purple roofs
The trees talk to each other
Plantain, palm, and pear
Change is the only constant
A permanent impermanence.
 
On Saturday, July 12th, we reconvened with Michele Coleman at A Heart for People farm in Upper Marlboro, MD to celebrate “The Essence of Ujima” - the critical importance of collective responsibility and community in these times. A Heart 4 People was born in November of 2022 with the mission of growing veggies and herbs to help senior citizens and others in the community who are food insecure. The farm is Farmer Michele’s ministry and the way she honors the legacy of 4 of her ancestors. 

Farmer Michele came up with this jam’s theme as she reflected on the need to ground ourselves on the land, process recent events, and most importantly, recenter joy in our community. We are grateful to have had a bountiful turnout that allowed us to accomplish many tasks including building a wheelbarrow from scratch, weeding and harvesting rows of kale, pounding trellises for tomatoes, painting signs for rows, and much more. The goal for my first Ujima Jam was for folks to take something back with them that would help them take better care of themselves. They left with a recipe for delicious, homemade, electrolyte drinks and wisdom on how to make better buying decisions at the grocery store. I am eternally grateful to MJ, my fellow intern Mia, and the OSW team for their guidance and support in putting this together.
 
After the jam, I sat down to journal and reflect, but a prayer came to me instead.
 
“Chi (Igbo word for ‘personal God’) please teach me what I need to learn so that I can best serve you and your creations.”

Photo Credit:  Muna