(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Good evening, and welcome to "Generation Rising."

I'm Anaridis Rodriguez.

Tonight we're sitting down with Julius Kolawole, the Executive Director of the African Alliance of Rhode Island, also known as AARI.

Since its inception, AARI has been at the forefront of advocating for and empowering African and Caribbean communities.

The African Alliance has launched numerous initiatives aimed at improving access to resources, enhancing cultural representation, and building a stronger, more inclusive Rhode Island.

Julius, thank you for being with us here.

Welcome.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

- Tell us the story behind the founding of the African Alliance of Rhode Island.

- That's a very interesting question.

The story goes back to many of us now live in this country and many of us used to come.

We go to school and I did the same thing, and we go back.

But the time has come that we are settling here.

Today in this state, there are 40 African countries that live in Rhode Island.

Our population is about 85,000.

Okay?

Therefore, we are hoping that all of that become useful to the state.

However, AARI was created in the sense of when an African arrive in this state is still an aspiration to make one phone call and be able to know where to find plantain and know where to find bananas and yuca, we call it cassava, and yam, and things like that.

Because an immigrant misses mostly two things, the food and the family.

And that's how African Alliance was born.

- I love that.

Those are all my favorite foods you mentioned, by the way, as a Dominican immigrant myself.

So you find yourself after decades of working as an electrical engineer thinking, I wanna start farming.

It's personal to you.

- Yes.

- How so?

- Well, I enjoy my profession.

I really do.

The last retirement was from Bristol Community College.

After my retirement, I took up teaching at Bristol Community College.

And I was teaching statistics.

And then COVID came, okay?

So I kind of withdraw out of that and focus solely on growing and all of the above.

What led to this particular project has to do with a large population of African women who are refugees in this state.

And I go to meetings and I hear that everybody talk about their mental agony and things like that.

And it dawned on me.

Many of us Africans grew up in a small town where everybody know who everybody.

You can go to nextdoor neighbor.

If they don't see you, they come knock on your door.

Then you arrive in U.S. and you're given the key to your apartment.

You cannot go to the nextdoor neighbor.

You find the nextdoor neighbor look at you as if you have 10 heads, okay?

Therefore, the psychological impact of being alone is what I believe the health professionals are observing in these refugees.

So we decided to create a community garden for them.

And yes, it was beautiful.

I was happy, why?

We were lucky there was West Elmwood Housing that gave us our first lot where we started the community garden.

So 14 women came.

It was a Saturday, okay?

We cleaned the space, we built raised bed, we put soil in it, we put some seedlings planted in it, and we called for pizza.

Pizza came, they ate some, and all of them started to dance.

And I said, yes, this is a start.

That was our beginning.

Move fast forward a little bit.

Most of what they grow are things they consume.

And in the evening, they get out of their apartment.

You can see them there, have a few jokes, sing a song.

Fellowship is a therapy.

That was the beginning.

So in 2012, I thought, why don't you bring them to Farm Fresh Armory Farmers Market?

And we did.

If you don't show up within 90 minutes, they were sold out.

- So many people wanted- - They were sold out.

- The harvest.

- Correct.

That was the beginning.

- That was the beginning.

- That was the beginning.

- You said that was on Dartmouth Street, your first lot.

- Diamond Street.

- Diamond Street.

- Diamond Street, yes.

- And I heard you say that word spread.

That initial group of women started talking to other women, and more women started showing up- - Correct.

- at your doorstep.

And that's how you grew into different lots.

How many lots do you have now?

- Today we have six community garden.

We own two.

AARI own two lots, okay, so our own.

- That's wonderful.

- And what we do there, there's another program we call Grow Your Own Food Initiative, okay?

So currently we have that program going on where an average person can show up, we can give the person a bed.

The soil is there, it's all ready for you to use, and you can grow whatever you want for your consumption.

We still have that program, okay?

So that's the community garden we have.

However, in 2014, we were unable to meet the customer demand.

That's when we began to look forward to a farm.

Today we have a leased farm, 6 1/2 acres.

We have 11 farmers there.

We still have the community garden.

- That's wonderful.

- Okay.

So this is how things kind of picked itself up and- - And developed.

- Yes.

- 6 1/2 acres.

It's interesting you mentioned the population.

According to the American Immigration Council, Rhode Island has a sizable immigrant population.

About 14.6% of the state's residents are foreign born.

And about half of those live with at least one immigrant parent.

These are the families that are participating in the African Alliance, tell us about them.

- Well, what I like to say about them is an area of people we don't generally talk about.

When you put a smile on a woman's face, when we say, I grew this, this is from my, okay, you begin to hear that psychological impact.

I did this.

I grew this.

It's a different mental thinking.

Then there was another one who, in her words, if she listen to this, she will know it's coming from her.

She said, "My grandchildren think grandma is useless.

Then I made some money.

I bought ice cream.

They think I'm the best."

You know, when you think about that- - Yeah.

It's very powerful.

- The feeling of the children, the feeling of the grandmother.

Okay?

Many of these people can neither read nor write.

All of a sudden this therapy is working.

They make money, they're happy, the children are happy.

The other ones will say, "Oh, your daughter is getting married.

I bring produce from my farm."

Hallelujah.

Okay?

That's the area of the work that I like to emphasize.

Okay?

We started a pop-up farmer's market.

This is our sixth year of doing that.

It has grown from four locations to eight locations.

- That's amazing.

- Okay.

And I always like to say this, and maybe your question will let me say more about it.

To the best of my knowledge, in the history of Rhode Island, this is the first time that eight different African vegetables are grown, sold, and several value-added products are made from them.

- Grown in Rhode Island.

- Correct.

- I believe it.

As an immigrant coming here, I would have to go to a market to find plantains and cassava and all the vegetables that I grew up loving.

But it's a different climate here, right?

- Correct.

- So some of those root vegetables just wouldn't yield in our soil.

- Correct.

- What's that process like?

How did you identify the vegetables and the food that you knew would grow?

Or was it an experiment and you would try and fail until something grew?

- Well, very interesting question.

I will talk about one in particular, because we made a T-shirt out of it.

It's called garden egg.

Okay?

So people call it eggplant.

So I made a T-shirt that says, "Garden egg is not eggplant."

Okay, because the moment you put it as eggplant, you strip the garden egg of his cultural beliefs and principles, okay?

I always think you gotta own what is yours.

All right?

If you let it go, if you put it in the bucket of eggplant, whatever that tradition of garden egg is, it's gone.

So we made a T-shirt.

Today we still grow a ton of garden egg.

We still sell a lot of garden egg.

We made a relish out of it.

We pickled it.

Okay, and you can go, walk by school, public schools, and you see they built a little raised bed.

And you can find garden egg grown there.

- There's an education component to this.

- Actually, that's my interest.

And I spend a ton of time about that, especially in my community.

Food is medicine.

Food is a weapon.

Okay?

Every one of us, old, young, rich, or poor, we have one constant, every day, all of us.

We have this constant.

The constant is called the stomach.

You must feed that stomach every day.

It's your call what to put inside.

If you don't put the right things in, you will be part of what I call the CVS.

- What's that?

- Medication.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Doctors.

Okay?

So I don't ask, I won't ask you to grow things.

But I will say to you, if you eat right, you may live long enough to attend your children's wedding.

Okay?

You have to reach people where they are.

You have to explain to people to understand you are talking about them, okay?

And that's value of food.

Food is medicine.

You are what you eat.

Okay?

- How did it grow to the point where it is now?

I find it very impressive that you started with one lot and now you have six community farms within the city.

And then you have, or community gardens, I should say.

- Yes.

- And then you have a community farm in Johnston.

How did you grow so fast?

The need is that much.

Is that what it is?

- We are yet to even tap into the reach.

The community need is a lot.

There are areas of education that's always of interest to me.

And part of the education, we also do what I call cooking demonstration.

If you can talk to people about what they eat, I can go deep into that.

When you are thirsty, you drink water.

The brain gets engaged.

When you are hungry, you are hangry.

If you put rocks in that stomach, for a few minutes, you'll be happy.

But it's gonna complain.

Okay?

So what you eat provides a system of information to your body, okay?

There's something else that I like to also say.

As I remember, I bring them up.

I like you to imagine this.

If I'm a roofer or a plumber, I wake up every day and I head out and I come home late.

And the kids said, "Mom, Dad, can I have orange juice?"

If there's no orange juice, everybody goes to bed unhappy.

When you wake up, you aren't happy.

But if there's that orange juice, and I use orange juice, it could be anything else.

It could be that food you had for dinner.

You wake up in the morning, you're a different person.

Your energy, your mindset, your thoughts, your agility, they're different.

Okay?

So what we eat is so important, especially in my community.

Very, very important.

I can get into it, but I'm gonna just answer your question and keep quiet, okay?

- I want you to get into it.

I mean, how important is it?

Is that what you were facing?

Were people coming to you asking for help in how to access certain types of food and being able to do so empowered them to take ownership of that?

- Well, for me, it goes a little way back.

And I'll be brief about it.

When I arrive in this country, you can look at the meat, you can look at the chicken, you can look at the pig.

None of them appeals.

None.

Because I'm coming from a climate where everything is fresh.

Okay, today I do talk about, I don't remember growing up, going to the market to buy vegetables.

You bring from the farm.

Fresh.

That's what we eat, okay?

We didn't know the value there until you get here, okay?

And you consume this, a lot of sugar, your supersize is nothing but sugar.

Syrup, okay?

It's not good for the body.

But when you are hungry, you don't think about that.

You gotta fix that constant, put something in it.

The program grew so much in the last few years because, and there is still opportunity, there is still a ton of work to be done.

They're growing the need.

Who are our primary customers?

Africans, Caribbeans, Haitians?

The Dominican, the Puerto Rican?

I can go on, okay?

We eat practically the same thing.

Different, we call it different name, which is language.

That's our population.

Hot pepper is famous, okay?

So that's our target group.

Then we thought, and I used to do this, you watch, you stop at a bus station on a Friday, and you watch elderly women get off the bus with bags, heavy bags, because there is no produce in their neighborhood.

They have to ride the bus to go somewhere to get it.

But it's their luggage.

So I'm beginning to say to myself, can we create a pop-up farmer's market where we are mobile?

That's how the pop-up market was born in 2018.

It was four locations.

- And now you're at eight locations.

- Eight and more.

- Across Rhode Island.

- Eight and more.

Yes.

- Bringing all kinds of different- - Locally grown.

Can get to your table within couple of hours.

In fact, we have got it to a point, we harvest in the morning, and we are by 9 a.m., we're at your neighborhood.

- It doesn't get any fresher than that.

- Okay.

You can smell it.

You can taste it.

We did a film on this.

Sitting...

Trying to remember the name.

"Sitting Places" was a 40-minute film where people talk about this work we do.

And I remember a couple of comments, okay?

And I will mention one of it.

She said, "I can walk to a fast food in my neighborhood.

I can walk to a Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood.

You are my supermarket."

Okay, I mean, there is more, but just wanna quote that piece out of it.

So we are making a difference.

We are making a difference.

We're also moving into a different area.

We're now focusing on food safety, which is important.

And we are talking about that.

We bring all of that to the pop-up markets.

So an average person can talk to us.

We have recipes.

Everything we do is a recipe to it.

Okay?

I wish I knew, 'cause I brought a couple of ideas of what we make.

- What has surprised you in this journey?

Is it your own transformation?

Is it the transformation of the people you're serving?

How large this organization has gotten in a relatively short amount of time?

It seems like this is very grassroots effort of people who volunteer their time to be there with you.

- That was the main goal.

The focus is what I call my community.

Okay?

And I have been invited to several other outside Providence, but that's not my interest.

There is what we call the South Providence.

You can find South Providence in (indistinct).

Anywhere you go, there is a South Providence.

We deal with this same situation, the same problem.

Okay?

And I sound like a preacher, but I'm not.

That we are not charity.

No.

God is good to us.

He give us the brain.

Allow us to venture, allow us to learn, allow us to do.

Charity?

That's not who we are.

This community, no.

But we'll be made to believe in charity.

We are not charity.

No.

But the system is so set up that don't allow you to venture, to acquire skills, to do on your own, okay?

And people tend to focus on failure.

Failure or mistakes.

I don't.

I call it learning.

The moment you recognize you can do better, that's progress.

And that exists in this community.

Okay?

It is that passion that I see in my community that drives what I do, is education, education, education.

For example, we do quite a bit.

I will mention another point.

If you come to the farm, we make sure we give you a seedling, possibly a cilantro or kale, something.

We ask you to please put it on your windowsill.

When you are ready to cook, call your kid.

Could you hand me something?

Remember, the kid don't know what you're talking about.

Stop.

Teach the kid.

This is cilantro.

This is how you offer.

Next time, call the kid.

By the time you do it three, four times, the kid know what it means.

And that what I've just said is going to happen from a different point of view.

Now, I'm focusing on future-ready.

What must we do such that the next generation don't have to go to the starting point?

That's our, every one of us, that's our responsibility.

What must we do?

What seed must we sow?

How must we sow it so the next generation have a better starting point?

- And it starts now.

- Yes.

- It starts now.

And we only have a few minutes left.

I can't believe we've chewed up all of our time here.

But how can people become involved, and what are your plans for the future?

- Okay.

That's a big question.

- Can you do it in two minutes?

(laughs) - In the farm, we've set aside a space.

We call it learning plots.

We give you a small plot.

We support you, provide technical assistance.

We allow you to grow whatever you want to feed your family, okay?

- And this is free?

- Yes, okay?

Last year we have six.

This year we have four.

We are looking forward to having more, okay?

If you are interested in growing things, we will support you, okay?

We have a space for you at the farm.

If you wanna be part of growing your own food in the urban community, we'll be willing to give you a plot to grow what you and your family can consume, okay?

We have recipes for you and all of these things.

We invite you to come to our cooking demonstration.

We invite you to come to our pop-up farmer's market.

In fact, if you come to our pop-up farmer's market, there's an incentive, we encourage people.

You show up, we give you a $5 Bami coupon.

Bami is the name of the farm.

Bami Farm in Johnston.

We give you a $5 coupon so you can buy fresh produce.

It smells different, it tastes different, okay?

Call us, reach out to us.

We're at your service.

- And what is your website?

- African Alliance of Rhode Island.

It's africanallianceri.org.

Okay?

Google us, African Alliance.

You'll find us.

- Yes.

- In case you don't remember.

- Thank you so much for what you do.

It's been lovely sitting down and learning more about you and your community.

My community by extension, of course.

And I really look forward to visiting your space one day.

- Thank you.

- We have run out of time.

I would like to thank tonight's guest, Julius Kolawole.

You can watch this episode and all our past episodes anytime at watch.ripbs.org, and be sure to follow us on these social platforms for the latest updates.

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