Community Partner: By Peaceful Means Intern: Willah Peers Site Supervisor: Nawal Rajeh
What is By Peaceful Means? By Peaceful Means works to create change by empowering youth and community through collective action and conflict resolution initiatives
“ Show me what freedom looks like!”“ This is what freedom looks like!”
Fifty kids in green shirts stood on our side of the highway facing fifty more on the other. Some held up signs that said“ Stop Police Brutality” or“ We must stop hurting each other” or“ Peace means I love mommy.” Some stood with chests out, two fingers held high in peace signs, revelling in the honks from the cars. Some danced to the beat of the chanting and some just yelled with all their might. Some kids looked on shyly from the back, and some crouched, resting their legs and their voices in the hot sun.
This Friday, Peace Camp met with another camp in Baltimore to stage a peace rally on Martin Luther King Boulevard. The week before we had a spa day to learn about self respect, and when our weekly Peace Hero was Prince, we had a photo shoot for the albums the kids were creating. In cooking class we made magic fruit wands and banana pancakes, guacamole and FFC( Fake Fried Chicken). We wanted to give the campers healthy alternatives to foods that they liked. In addition, we coordinated with Blue Bag Baltimore to provide parents with huge bags of produce once a week.
At Peace Camp we tried to impart respect, productive communication, and positive conflict resolution on the kids. I learned from the wonderful leaders there‐‐as well as the campers‐‐ each day about how to better model these ideas and apply them in practice. All the while we had art and music and gym and pool days and beach days. Hopefully the kids were able to have some freedom and joy with us, as well as peace. ‐ Willah
Tasks:
● Researched seasonality, nutritional information, recipes, and alternative ways to use fruit and nuts for " An booklet which also features local farmers ' markets and healthy living exercises
● Worked with other local nonprofits and organizations by teaching at events such as community garden plan making night
● Prepared recipe cards for events and potlucks to be distributed to the public
● Consulted future planting partners regarding urban planning
● Researched edibility of fruit / nuts in edible rain gardens