“Community is creating opportunities to lift each other up. Upholding compassion and empathy above all.”

I started working on this concept in February 2020 not aware of how this message would be magnified in our lives after March 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed life (the way we know it) on so many levels – g.l.o.b.a.l.l.y. Community has been the fall back for so many – me inclusive. I live thousands of miles away from my birth family, so community has become my ‘go to’ as is the story for so many other immigrants.

To me, community has been one of the most precious things in my life over the past two years which brings me to the question, ‘What is community to you?’ 

I like to think that community is a collective of people linked together by a common attribute. Maybe the link in this case is humanity. We have been designed to belong and that is why we yearn for connections and create relationships.

The world we live in is not Utopia – not perfect at all! As it appears, some of us have more access to resources than others.

Do we even care if there are people in our community that are unhoused?

Or that 1 in 5 children in the USA have no idea where their next meal is coming from? (Don’t fret – even if I am African, I live in the US)

Or that affordable health care is unattainable for so many?

What about the formal education? Is it only for a few?

What about safety? Is it too much to ask for each and everyone of us to feel safe?

There are so many unfortunate scenarios that I could work through – and all of them are experienced by members of our communities. Do we even care?

Shouldn’t community be a safe haven for all and not for only a few?

I’ll say it’s not all gloom and doom – it has warmed my heart immensely to see humanity rise above all and give to others during this pandemic. That, to me, is true COMMUNITY – upholding compassion and empathy above all. If you give a little there and I give a little here — together, we’re making the world a better place.

Community y’all!

Grab a community tee and spread the good vibes.

*MM*

Changing the narrative. Telling my African story