Time to Go
My Travel Story
I come back as a king
I left you as a vagabond
I come back as a queen
I left you as I was empty
I come back bringing great wealth
I left in mourning and in pain
I come back bringing health ~Ife Amor
The Family World School is planning to go to The Gambia. This plan began in the year 2004 before most of our scholars were born. My husband and I had three children at the time and were excited to provide them with experiences in travel to connect them with people and cultures from the Continent. At the time we planned to visit Ghana, Togo, The Gambia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Africa, and Kenya. We knew the costs would be high but thought if we saved, we could do it. It was then and continues to be our goal to develop relationships with other people interested in learning more about the connections between Africa and her children across the Diaspora. Unfortunately, in 2011, at the young age of 35, my husband suffered a severe brain injury. It felt like the end of my dream to expose my children to traveling abroad. Our finances were shot. However, when I gave birth to our only son, I knew I had to give him and our daughters more than pictures, oral accounts, and videos about the continent. To be perfectly honest, an overwhelming fear swept over me knowing that one day, my son would be seen as less valuable because of his beautiful brown skin. I don't want him to adopt those narratives as so many young boys do. I want to show him and his sisters something bigger, outside of the language (contextual and actual) used to describe Africans of the Americas. Our story doesn't begin with slavery. Our lives do not have to end crying "I Can't Breathe". I knew I had to get them to the continent so that they can begin to connect the effects of slavery and colonization in Africa and beyond. Additionally, so that they can see themselves in a different medium than they can in the United States at this time.
Our Family World School is dedicated to facilitating experiences that make learning profound and meaningful. A part of that is using academic studies and integrating these ideas into the concepts that relate to us in real life, our histories, health, and futures. Though our plans were to travel the continent, these costs would be far more than what we can accumulate while living everyday life with limited resources due to the financial result of major health catastrophes. We have decided to go to one country; The Gambia. The Gambia is the country known as "The Smiling Coast". It is a tiny country, geographically embraced by Senegal. The country has amazing wildlife. One popular food is Plasas. It looks like collard greens or Callaloo. In our family's home, we like to eat greens (like collards or callaloo) with our fingers, hot sauce and maybe cornbread. It seems there may be many similarities and these presumed similarities (and differences) are a major part of the Family World School's research on our trip. Another important element of our visit to the Gambia is language. In 2019, I began a language program called iSPEAK Language Learning Program. It is the first and only indigenous language learning program for children. The focus, currently, is indigenous African languages. This means that the language program is working to empower indigenous language speakers throughout the continent while establishing curricula to teach these languages to children in the African Diaspora (and beyond) in an effort to preserve and expand these cultures through language. Some languages spoken in the Gambia are Mandinka, Wolof and Fula. It is our plan to see if or how these languages may have been brought over into the African American vernacular. If possible, we would like to network to acquire translations in languages like Wolof and Mandinka for the iSPEAK curriculum as well. This trip will change the lives of my family in ways that I cannot explain. But unlike many traveling families, our pockets are not deep so realism is very important. Because of this, we know we will need help to travel. Even with the low costs of ground transportation, food, room and board, the sheer size of my family continues to make the effort difficult financially. We are struggling to save enough funds for the family's flight. This is where we are asking for help.
Updates
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This Is Our Garden
We are practicing sustainable living and a major part of that is learning about different plants and how they serve life. Did you know that there is a plant called Sow Thistle that often gets confused with dandelions? It's true. Not only that but it has great properties as an anti-diarrhea, anti-inflammatory, and it helps with girls' who have problems on their periods. It's also loaded with vitamin K. In our garden, we are not purposely growing Sow Thistle. We're growing peppers, okra, beans, and corn to name a few things. But Sow Thistle is often called a weed. It grows all over our backyard. The Family World School has taught us that weeds are just plants you haven't learned how to use yet. As we started learning more about this plant, we have started valuing in more and sometimes use it in salads. In the picture is one of our tomato plants. I planted the tomatoes and I love to eat tomatoes. I'm thinking, when we harvest these, I will slice some of our cucumbers and tomatoes, soak them in apple cider vinegar, sprinkle on a little basil and black pepper for lunch. Yum!
More Travel Information
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Campaign Ended
$ 0 USD
Total Donation Received-
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Funded -
$ 16,800 USD
Goal Amount -
0
Days Left
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Cost Calculator
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Airfare/ International Flights
$ 16,000
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Medical/ Travel/ Accident Insurance
$ 800
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