# 1. Welcome! Kukaribishi kwa furaha !

June 3, 2009 Field Note:#1. Creating A Blog

Welcome to Nsoroma Institute's blog ! (http://www.nsoroma.org/).

My name is Aurora Harris, B.A., M.A. Social Foundations of Education. I am a recent graduate of Eastern Michigan University. As a board member and poet of the Broadside Press (http://www.broadsidepress.org/), I serve as a community partner with the Nsoroma Institute as part of the Southeast MI Stewardship Coalition. After speaking with the principal and teachers about having a blog, we are in agreement that one should be created. I am happy to present the blog site to our community partners and the public!

Nsoroma Institute is an African-Centered K-8 school of Oakland University. It is located on the northeast side of Detroit, MI. Our students and staff greet each other in English and Kiswahili, therefore, we say, "Welcome" or "Kukaribishi kwa furaha!"

At the Nsoroma Institute, our work is related to the theme: "Food Security." I work with Malik Yakini, Principal; Nkosazana T. Bakari, Math and Technology Teacher; Deborah Martins, English Teacher and Fabayo Manzira, Kindergarten and Dance Teacher. We share ideas and information that can be used as poetry, lesson plans and curricula.

This blog will provide useful educational information in the form of the history of the school, community partners, photos and poetry. A vocabulary list in English and Swahili that teachers may contribute to and use as generative themes for class discussion; environment related links, my work in the form of "Field Notes" and contributions by the teachers that I am working with at the school.

History of the School

Concerns about the safety and well-being of children and adults, the environment, clean water, food security and oppression are not new to the staff and students of the Nsoroma Institute. On June 2, 2009 Malik Yakini, Principal, shared that the Educational Philosophy in the Parents' Handbook (pg. 8), was written in 1994 and reflects the concerns:


Educational Philosophy

"Nsoroma Institute is an African-Centered Institution. We are guided by a philosophy which seeks to: develop within our children insight into their individual gifts, talents and missions; connect our children with the rich and diverse historical and cultural legacies of African peoples; restore a world view which reflects an understanding of the inter dependence of humans, plants animals, the air, water, soil and natural elements which create the delicate balance that sustains life on the planet earth.

Inherent in this world is the understanding that oppression is wrong. Any system or set of circumstances which limits a people from realizing the fullest expression of their human potential must be replaced with ways of relating spiritually, socially, politically and economically which facilitate peace, prosperity, health, happiness and maximum human development...

Our African-Centered perspective provides us with a window through which we can look inward at ourselves, and simultaneously look out at the various expressions of human culture... Nutrition is stressed as a tool for contributing to a balance between mind, body and spirit."

Award Winning Students!

While visiting with teachers at the school on June 1, 2009, I learned that the school has a newspaper called "The Nsoroma Vision." In the Fall 2008 edition, there was an article titled: "Students Awarded For Participation In Urban Environmental Awareness Program." The article written by Malik Yakini informed the community that on May 16, 2008 at an award ceremony given by the University of Michigan Detroit Center, "24 eighth grade students from Nsoroma Institute, Timbuktu Academy of Science and Technology and Aisha Shule/ W.E.B. Dubois Prep were awarded certificates for their completion of the 2008 Urban Environmental Awareness Program at the University of Michigan-Dearborn...Students toured a water basin, learned how to build and install ground water monitoring wells, visited brown fields, learned how to take soil samples according to the Environmental Protection Agency's protocol and analyzed the samples in a laboratory." Students have been participating in the program for four years.

After I read the article, I felt proud to be Nsoroma Institute's community partner! As part of a larger Education, Food Security, Health and Wellness network that exists in Detroit, MI and surrounding Metropolitan Detroit, some of the schools partnerships include:

• Detroit Black Food Security Network http://detroitblackfoodsecurity.org/
• The University of Michigan-Dearborn Urban Environmental and Awareness and Media Program
• Organzation of African Centered Educators and Schools (OACES)
• East Michigan Environmental Council: http://www.emeac.org/

Info about Nsoroma Institute, Food Security, the D-Town Farm and SEMIS can be found at the sites below. As of today, June 3, 2009, the links are working.

PDF File: Hub- Southeast Mi Stewardship Coalition (SEMIS) at Eastern Michigan University

http://www.glstewardship.org/Hubs/08-GLSI-112_HubSheet_EMU.pdf

Michigan Citizen Articles:

Special report by Shea Howell: "Unexpected moments" http://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=7172&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1070&hn=michigancitizen&he=.com
Eric T. Campbell's article about the D-Town Farm: "Economic planning inspires food farm in Rouge Park'": http://michigancitizen.com/default.asp?smenu=1&sdetail=6378

This concludes my Field Note #1 for now. The next postings will have a vocabulary list of words in English and Swahili that are related to the school's philosophy, student awareness of the environment, gardening, farming and other Field Notes. Hopefully, I'll figure out how to add photos soon!

Best-

Aurora Harris

mynsoroma@gmail.com
aurora917@gmail.com

Note: all photos c.2009 by Aurora Harris. Please contact Aurora Harris at aurora917@gmail.com to request permission to use, copy or duplicate.