Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Day 3 - Ujima - Collective work and responsibility

On this, the third day of Kwanzaa, we focus on ujima (collective work and responsibility) and "build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together."

When someone performs an action which benefits his or her community, it is known as community service. However, community service can also be rewarding, and it is a vital part of many small communities. Getting involved in your community makes it healthier and livelier, and numerous organizations around the world support community service activities.
Things which could be considered community service include tutoring children, building homes in low income areas with Habitat for Humanity, assisting the elderly, helping animals at animal shelters, contributing to the operations of volunteer fire departments and emergency services, or helping with community beautification. In all cases, community service work is performed by volunteers who are not paid for their time. In some instances, the work would not be accomplished without the work of such volunteers, and many small organizations rely on people with community spirit to survive.
Engaging in activities like environmental restoration or civic beautification will make your life enjoyable by making the world around you more pleasant. community service can also help to ensure that important services like meals for the elderly and volunteer fire departments continue to run. It also helps to build a rich and supportive community of people who know each other and lend each other a hand when it is needed.

An Example of Ujima...

Founded by leaders of the African American community, Shiloh Orphanage now is known as the Shiloh Comprehensive Community Center. The orphanage played an important role historically by providing housing, care, and education for black children without families in a time when governmental assistance was not available. The orphanage consists of three buildings: Strong Academy, the Girls Dormitory,and the Boys Dormitory. These buildings are architecturally significant as examples of their type and because the dormitories were designed by locally prominent architects.

The Shiloh Baptist Association founded Shiloh Orphanage in 1902, initially locating it in the home of Reverend Daniel McHorton, the first superintendent. In 1904, the orphanage purchased land on 15th Street from Mrs. Hattie Strong, who had previously tried to organize an orphanage at this location near the historically black neighborhood of Bethlehem. Three buildings were constructed as part of the orphanage. A one room school for the younger children, Strong Academy, was built in 1910 and named in honor of Mrs. Strong’s husband. The orphanage had a vegetable garden to the east of the complex of buildings and used some of the acreage to graze cattle.

At Shiloh, the older children took care of younger children. Some of the older residents worked in the homes of white citizens and members of the Shiloh Board of Directors. The children’s chores included washing, ironing, cleaning, and working in the garden. For entertainment, they played games in the yard, took walks in the neighborhood, and read books.

After operating for over 60 years, the orphanage closed in 1970. In 1977, the Shiloh Comprehensive Community Center formed to serve citizens in the area and began using the orphanage buildings.
What we did....
We discussed why doing community service is important to our community and ways we could accomplish this. Rion decided when he walk through the park to or from school he could throw away trash if he saw any. His friends might do the same but if not "every little bit matters" he said. He talked about volunteering at the soup kitchen and how he felt bad but enjoyed it. I told him that we had an opportunity to volunteer at Helen's Hope Chest to help the foster children as well as at a ranch to volunteer during their horse therapy. He wasn't too sure about the horse thing because of course he remembers the time we went to visit the ranch by our apartment and a horse spit in his face lol! he was a bit traumatized but I explained what horse therapy was and he was in. We shall see lol. We also went through his room and he got all his books and games he wanted to give the foster children. Mani and I had already gathered all her toys and clothes earlier. Mani understood they were going to "the other babies" who may not have that toy and she happily put her toys in a pile for them. We will bring it to the facility next week after the volunteer lady calls us back. We will definitely find more ways to give back to the community in 2011.