Black To Our Roots Program in Ghana, Summer 2009
So the Habesha Inc. Baltimore Chapter and the BLACK (Building Lives through African Cultural Knowledge) To Our Roots program is preparing to Baltimore City youth to Ghana this summer. I’ll be documenting their orientation meeting on Sunday at the Seventh Metro Church in Charles Village. I’m interested to see and hear the parents and kids view points about taking an amazing 3 week trek to Africa! Photos coming soon!
Wow. This talk came at the right time in my thesis research/development phase. Its always inspiring to hear how individuals are continuing to mobilize the Baltimore City youth. And when celebrities or people with prime access put their talents to good use, it changes the entire dynamic. I’m definitely glad to see that beyond the essence of “The Wire” essential community outreach is prevailing.
Rewired for Change was created and targets Baltimore Cities high risk youth to strengthen their critical thinking skills through poetry. Empowering youth is something we often hear but definitely not enough!
Sonja Sohn at the Rewire for Change Lauch Party
Here is her TEDx talk that she gave at MICA last week:
http://www.tedxmidatlantic.com/live/#SonjaSohn
and here is the link for Rewired for Change
Thanks to a recent convo with fellow Baltimore artist, gallery owner & community organizer, Shawn Holmes I found out about WombWork Productions, Inc, and Nu World Art Ensemble.
Since 1997 they have been reshaping the role of youth in Baltimore city. It almost makes me wish I had grew up in Baltimore just to be apart of this troup! Sure I was involved in musical theater while in high school and church but I also had two left feet which meant I had to work extra hard just to show off my vocal skills.
But how cool would it have been to write and direct my own urban musical. These kids did it back in March under the care of 3 amazing women, Rashida Forman-Bey, Program Director, Kay Lawal Muhammad, Artistic Director, and Nataska Hasan Humminbird, Cultural education and musical director. (Who I’m finding out have helped raise some of the most talented and creative people in Baltimore community today. (I’m not kidding)
No, the kids you see below aren’t going crazy, and their wii wasn’t just thrown out the window. They are Nu world Art Ensemble. Started by WombWork Productions, they use theater to heal the community. They take real life social issues and often situation from their own lives and turn them into theatrical productions.
Nu World Art Ensemble
Their stories are translated into performances and showcases how growing up in Baltimore has effected their life. Some of their success stories have been simply keeping kids of the streets. The organization is also a mentoring program that trains youth to become mentors to others and mostly to their younger generation.
Most of the kids that are attracted to this program are recruited during a seen performance and some come into the program already suffering from various social issues such as depression, domestic violence, gang violence, and substance abuse.
The success stories have come into play with kids who have been apart of the organization since day one and kept true to their performance roots in and outside of the organization.
They have performed all over the east coast and in Baltimore’s own American Visionary Museum. The progress lies within the power the youth have to change the behavior of the following younger generation.
Nu World Art Ensemble "Birth of Piece" Urban Musical
Check out this cool video about Wombwork Productions, Inc. in contains amazing interviews with young people from the ensemble, some who have been apart of the program for 8 years. (click the link below)
“When We Lay Hands” – An Introduction to Wombwork Productions, Inc.
Habesha Inc. Black To Our Roots Trip to Ghana July 2009
Currently listening to: Happiness is a Warm Gun- The Beatles
Yes, I’m missing out on duck pin bowling with the gang to write this blog…
This week has been super busy. I’ve been conducting interviews and documenting all the great talent that the Baltimore community has been blessed with! My role as a graphic designer and grad student at MICA is turning into quite a journey. I can’t seem to get away from researching family & youth centered community programs and Baltimore has a lot of them. I’m thankful for all the recent people that I’ve met that have given me tastes of what the Baltimore Arts community is all about.
Black To Our Roots is a spiritual, cultural, and educational experience where youth of African descent learn about themselves through extensive research on African history and culture, which culminates in a journey to Ghana, West Africa. This week I conducted a phone interview with Ethopian-American, Chicago raised, recent Baltimorean filmmaker and film professor Ras Tre Subira, former Director of the Digital Center for the Urban Experience at LaSalle University.
Spike Lee might be the father of modern black filmmaking, But Ras Tre isn’t too far behind. Ras Tre Subira, is the founder of Black Mission Media partnered with Black To Our Roots program that produced the award winning film Black To Our Roots. I had a chance to attend a film screening in September and I was blown away. (sorry for the cliche, Elizabeth) I couldn’t believe that the film was his undergraduate thesis project!
Black To Our Roots is an inspirational story that follows Atlanta 17-year- old teen Sylvia Dorsey. Sylvia, encircled in a life of violence and substance abuse is determined to free herself of this hostile environment. She finds herself on a soul-searching 3-week mission as she travels with other Atlanta youth to Ghana during the summer of 2007.
Not only was I blown away by these bright kids and their willingness to travel to Ghana (they had to raise all their travel funds) I was intrigued that a program like this exists for young people.
17-year-old Sylvia Dorsey, in Ghana during the film of "Black To Our Roots"
Sure Marcus Garvey protested and wanted Black folks to go back to Africa and surge themselves in their African roots. But how many young people possess the cultural lust for knowledge. These days when you ask an average kid what they think about Africa what do you think they’ll say?
Some might be excited and interested in taking the journey to the motherland and others might feel they have nothing to gain or learn from their cultural heritage. The kids in this film were itching to go, to learn and to dive into the culture.
A lot would await them once they hopped off the plane. The film primarily focuses on Sylvia. The filmmakers conduct interviews with her family before she goes on her journey. Sylvia’s mom is doesn’t really have a solid point of view on Africa and she doesn’t seem to adamant about her daughter going.
Once Sylvia and the others arrive in Ghana they are challenged head on with the pressures of being in a different environment. Its interesting because many local Ghanians were open to receiving their displaced African-American brothers and sisters. And others had many questions as to why these kids made the journey in the first place.
The youth visited the original slave dungeons and become engulfed in the culture and people. Sylvia once I shy and reserved girl faces her fears and emerges as a confident and articulate young woman. When she arrived at the slave dungeons she stated “The air still smells like they are here, like they were waiting for us” This is her coming of age story. Once she she returns to the US will she be able to take all she’s learned and apply it to her environment? Will her family members and friends take her experience as true and valid?
Ras Tre behind the camera shooting a daily Twi (local language) lessons on the bus while in Ghana
Partnered with Habesha Inc. (Helping Africa by Establishing Schools and Home and Abroad) Ras Tre Subira is currently starting a Black To Our Roots Program Baltimore chapter and is preparing to take another group of youth and mentors to Ghana in July 2010. He believes strongly in using media as a creative tool to change the lives of young people.
Here is a little of my interview with Ras Tre:
JT: Black To Our Roots? How did it begin?
Ras: Black To Our Roots started off as a project putting the camera in the hands of young people so they could take their visual experimentations to Africa. The Black To Our Roots documentary is what came out of it. The kids would film their own video journals and they essentially became an integral part of the film.
JT: What positive impact/outreach has Black To Our Roots/ Black Mission Media had on the community so far?
Ras: The fact that kids want to get involved with this program validates their desire for something bigger. They are channeling themselves, life is becoming the classroom.
JT: Any amazing success stories that have helped shape this organization into what its become and becoming?
Ras: Well Sylvia is our most quoted success story. She came from an environment that wasn’t very African centered. Not cultured. She wasn’t being pushed to participate in this program from her friends and family. Her family was dealing with several issues such as HIV, substance abuse, etc. Although she seemed interested in the program her home life really didn’t give her the motivation to stay involved. She almost quit the group.
JT: She really makes a strong transformation throughout the film. I can tell that being apart of the program has changed her life. I was intrigued by her new found passion to want to help people in her neighborhood once she got back to the US.
Ras: Another success lies in the fact that we’ve been a self funded organization for 6 years-no grants, we’re self sufficient. All the youth raise their own funds, including the mentors and volunteers to attend the trips as well. There are definitely more success stories to come since the Baltimore chapter is on the rise!
Sylvia Dorsey is currently attending Savannah State University, where she is studying Africana Studies.
Thanks to awesome Habesha Inc. facbook page for the great photos! You can see more here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=98915&id=86474118886
Black To Our Roots was released in 2007 and profiled on CNN’s “Inside Africa” It has been the recipient of numerous awards for Best Documentary – American Black Film Festival, Spaghetti Junction Film Festival, San Diego Black Film Festival and received the Audience Choice Award – International Black Docufest
Find out more about Black to Our Roots @ http://www.habeshainc.org
Quote of the week:
“We make our world significant by the courage of our questions, and the depth of our answers” -Carl Sagan-
Steps
Begin to showcase the cause and effect of these community organizations I’m researching. The focus will cover successful stories about how these organizations are impacting and touching the lives of many in the local Baltimore area.
Categorizing Data
Series of visual experiments exploring connections I’ve discovered in becoming apart of the research process and community dialogue.
Interesting find: sub organizations that have flourished from their larger mother organizations.