I’ve come to the point where I can expect the unexpected every morning when I wake up and head to Hope House, and that’s something I love about this internship. The one activity that I actually can expect from almost every day though, is to spend at least some time working in the garden. I had never been much of a gardener before, besides the occasional planting of flowers with my mom in the springtime, but I am quickly developing a love for it. For some time, I was somewhat struggling to understand how my time spent gardening coincided with my internship focused around community and social justice. But I’ve realized that just being outside in the struggling northwestern Detroit neighborhood of Brightmoor, interacting with neighbors who stop by and creating a space for neighbors and all Detroiters to spend time in and be proud of, is of huge importance in the process of community development and revitalization.
Almost every day a young boy who lives down the street from Hope House, Ahmed, rides up to Naim and me when we are tending to the garden. He tells us about some things going on in his life, asks if he can help, and sometimes asks to eat something from our garden (recently, the strawberries that are ripening). Often older neighbors or families walk by and ask what we are growing or compliment the garden. When people show an interest in our garden, Naim and I offer them a flyer of information about our upcoming resiliency camp program, and invite them to join us. It’s great to see the grass root level of community engagement and responsibility. Naim and I joke that even though one of our tasks is to go do outreach at other organizations in the community to get people to come to our program, we probably get more outreach done on the days we just spend gardening, since so many people show interest right there on our street. I also am surprised as to how many people are outside in general in Brightmoor. I was warned by Detroiters before I started this program to be very careful in this neighborhood, as it has some of the highest crime rates in the city. While I remain careful, I have never felt unsafe at work. The neighbors are friendly and generally open. I’m learning the importance of communication, and how really spending time in a community is necessary to gain understanding of the situations of those who live there.
