Photo credit for all photos on the page: Robert Connor, Unmuted Recordings Inc.

Rockaway residents celebrated Kwanzaa this holiday season the way they strive to live every day: with neighbors helping neighbors and celebrating their rich culture and each other. It all came together at the second Annual Community Unity Cultural Celebration of Kwanzaa on December 28 at B.R.I.D.G.E Family Enrichment Center. The celebration was sponsored and supported by several community organizations and attended by 180 Far Rockaway community members and friends. Thirty people served on the steering committee, making it a truly joint effort.

The event also was a testament to two of our Cash+Community Works participants, Kimberly and Vernell, who epitomize community strength and the seven principles of Kwanzaa.

Kimberly

Four years ago, Kimberly survived four aneurisms. Doctors were shocked that she was able to walk and talk when she woke up. “I looked at that as a message from God that He has a mission journey for me to walk,” Kimberly says.

Vernell heard about The Child Center’s Cash+Community Works (C+C) initiative soon after she had retired from her job at Elmhurst Hospital. C+C is a neighborhood-based, peer-driven initiative that provides participants with cash incentives to pursue individual and community goals. Vernell applied to C+C and used the incentives to launch a grassroots nonprofit, Rockaways Neighbors Helping Neighbors. The organization serves as a conduit for exactly what the name says—neighbors and helping neighbors—and for bringing the community together. The annual Kwanzaa celebration is one of many ways Vernell accomplishes this goal.

Vernell

“A lot of our community members haven’t experienced a Kwanzaa event before,” Vernell says. “This was an opportunity to learn about the celebration, why and when it was created, for people to gain an understanding of how the seven principles can be incorporated in daily life, and for the community to come together in unity.”

The event began with the opening call to order, a prayer by Pastor Philip Sharp, and the singing of the Black National Anthem, followed by the libation, which is when participants “acknowledge their ancestors, all the people who came before them and struggled to make life better for us,” Vernell explains. “We did the ritual of pouring water into a bowl or plant and called out the names of our ancestors to pay homage to God for them.”

Since the Kwanzaa celebration derives from Africa, where they would celebrate the harvest and first fruits, Vernell says that the celebration is meant to pay homage to God for providing the first fruits and caring for the people. As such, they celebrated with food, singing, dancing, and looking forward to the coming year in unity. Kimberly says she was “blown away” by the singers, dancers, and drummers.

Making and giving gifts is also traditionally a part of Kwanzaa. There was a room at the celebration where children could choose toys to take home. “It was beautiful,” Kimberly says.

While all seven of the principles speak to Vernell, she finds Ujima—collective work and responsibility—particularly poignant. It’s why she started Rockaways Neighbors Helping Neighbors, and it’s one of the main reasons the annual Kwanzaa celebration is so close to her heart. “It was important for me to continue on our path of bringing people together and unifying the community in accord with the principles of Kwanzaa—introducing them to some, reiterating them to others—while impressing on everyone the importance of us coming together: My problem is your problem, and we can solve each one together.”

Vernell acknowledges that doing the work of incorporating the principles into daily life is not something that can be accomplished with one event. That is why they are planning to continue with the work of promoting the principles by educating the youth throughout the winter and training them on incorporating the principles into their lives.

One aspect of Kwanzaa that speaks to Kimberly is not one of the seven principles, but it is something that Kimberly thinks the observance is all about: hope. “Many residents in our communities feel like they have no hope. Studying, understanding, and practicing the seven principles can return hope to them. If your problem becomes mine and mine becomes yours, then it’s not so overwhelming. If I can be of help to you in the situation you’re in, I’ll do it. I’ll watch the kids so you can take care of business, and I know that you’ll be there for me another time, when I need it. If I see my 99-year-old neighbor going to the store all by herself, I will walk with her. There is so much going on in our communities. People can lose hope. But let’s come up with a solution. If it’s following the Kwanzaa principles to come together and unify and have self-determination, that’s what we’re trying to share and empower.”

Kimberly has leveraged her C+C participation to support her community work through the Redfern Houses Resident Council. She was voted in as president of the council and is using her C+C incentives to organize events and meet community needs in other ways, such as Narcan demonstrations.

Vernell and Kimberly are both mothers and grandmothers, and they believe teaching young people about the seven principles is important. “It gives youth an option, a better way to deal with life,” Vernell says. “Incorporating these principles gives them the hope that Kim was talking about.”