Gardening, Holistic Health and African-centered Education

By Malik Yakini, Director of Nsoroma Institute

African-centered education is at its root an effort to heal the damage that has been done to African people by centuries of oppression, underdevelopment and teachings that have caused us to dislike and distrust self and kind. Often people think that African-centered education simply seeks to inform students about the African origin of civilization or about the works of Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and our other heroes and sheroes. Those are important aspects of African-centered education, but our healing approach must address all aspects of our existence; mental physical and spiritual. Our approach to liberation must be grounded in our own worldview; an African worldview that recognizes the interconnectedness of the internal and external aspects of our lives.

This holistic approach demands that we teach in an interdisciplinary fashion. The various academic disciplines must be taught so that students intuitively understand the relationship between science and social studies, between math and art and between language and culture.

African-centered schools seek to develop whole, healthy Black children who love themselves, their people and understand their responsibility to develop the African World Community, and by extension humanity. Thus, holistic health is an integral part of the philosophy of African-centered education.

At Nsoroma Institute, one of the most innovative ways that we incorporate the teaching of holistic health is through organic gardening. For the past nine years we have planted and maintained a school garden. For the past three years we have participating in the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, a community coaliton of groups and indivduals doing organic urban gardening.

In reality, the gardening initiative is only part of a larger effort at teaching community food security. In 2000, Anana Lololi of the Toronto based Afri-Can Food Basket met with Nsoroma staff and parents to develop a community food security curriculum guide. The curriculum guide designates topics to be examined by students including nutrition, food production and distribution, and the sciences related to the growth of plant foods.

Holistic health is also promoted by offering healthy food choices at school programs, healthy snacks in our vending machines, a schoolwide ban on pop and candy, schoolwide daily meditation, physical education classes and drug and alcohol prevention workshops.