a long standing presence of the us military on the island of vieques, puerto rico has left its warm, turquoise waters and sandy, beach getaways tainted by ammunition waste and chemical contamination leaving spirited residents and restoration task forces to pick up the shrapnel.

in 1941, the u.s. navy purchased 27,000 of the 33,000 acres that comprise the island of vieques. for nearly 60 years, the viequenses people “coexisted” in the crossfire between the divided training areas on the 50.8 sq mile island, roughly the same area as the city of las vegas.

following the death of a civilian navy employee, david sanes in 1999, civil unrest ensued, eventually leading to the departure of the us navy presence in 2003. however, the navy left the island peppered with remnants of undetonated bombs, pfas chemicals, uranium, mercury, napalm and more. all of which are toxic materials known to have serious effects on human health along with generational impacts on the health of island youth.

caught in a crossfire: life on the island

the navy’s departure followed years of persistent displays of civil disobedience by viequenses. before that, residents on the island lived an alarmingly close 8.7 miles from the “live impact area” where military jets, traveling between 500 and 1,300 miles per hour, trained for high altitude bombing on the easternmost part of the island. according to author katherine t. mccaffrey, an error in four seconds of fire from a ship could land up to 14 or 20 miles from the target, while a four second error from an aircraft pilot could drop a bomb up to 50 miles from a target. 

local vieques resident, elda guadalupe carrasquillo, grew up during the navy’s occupation and recalls the windows of her grade school classroom shaking during active munitions trainings. carraqquillo was raised on various army bases before settling in vieques with her family around age 10. “when i was in a real military base, even though i saw a lot of military things, there were no actual live practices like here in vieques,” she said.

despite carrasquillo’s familiarity with the events that occur on a military base, she affirms these training sessions were “too close” for the safety and comfort of residents. today, carrasquillo works with an agro-ecological farm on the island, la colmena cimarrona, and is a middle school teacher. in addition to the violent nature of living so close to these “live impact areas”, residents also suffered from legacy pollution due to the chemical and material shrapnel. 

rates of cancer amongst viequenses are 31% above that of the rates of cancer on the main island along with 4 times the rate of hypertension amongst residents. coupled with this, pollutants like agent orange, depleted uranium, and pfas have leached into the island’s soil, groundwater, and air leaving residents vulnerable to exposure through a variety of mediums.

“we don’t know how contaminated our underground water sources are,” carrasquillo said. she also noted that a large majority of students on the island require individualized educational plans due to learning disabilities which recent studies have found links between cognitive development and pfas exposure.

uxos and remediated sites: successful strides in clean-up efforts

in 2005, the island was placed on the national priorities list, as a “superfund” site — one that requires investigation and clean-up by the u.s. government. today, several locations around the island have been successfully remediated to become recreational spaces for islanders and tourists.

a notable site from the eastern sect of the superfund sites, the puerto ferro lighthouse was constructed in 1896 by spanish colonizers. the lighthouse lies within the 535 acres that comprise uxo area 15, an unfortunate title that refers to the presence of unexploded ordnance like bombs and bullets on the land. despite the contamination, the scenic area on the southern coast of vieques overlooks a bright blue coastline and slopes upward as you move inland.

the area around the abandoned structure is home to a thin forest of mangrove trees, lagoons, and salt and sand flats. but in just one year, over 23,000 explosive bombs were dropped on these coastal hills. in 2013, the us navy initiated priority action to facilitate public access and to encourage recreational and commercial activities at puerto ferro and the surrounding beach areas.

the area was investigated for munitions and explosives of concern anywhere from 1 to 4 ft below ground surface level. the area was ultimately remediated seven years ahead of schedule, and upon completion provided public access to formerly restricted areas as well as educational kiosks and monuments for visitors to interact with.

moving to the western sect of the superfund sites, former open burn/open detonation sites (swmu 4 and uxo 16) were also successfully remediated ahead of schedule to provide further public access to recreational spaces like the beaches around the island. several pieces of munitions were removed from the site, however, not all were recollected. despite this, a 2018 remedial investigation report found the likelihood that these munitions were still physically present in the area was improbable.

balancing the health of the land and the people

a large part of the uxo sites on the island have been remediated, and are in the concluding or monitoring stages of the clean-up process. while numerous sites still remain around the island, within the next decade, most of the entire island is expected to be remediated.

nonetheless, carrasquillo expects challenges and uncertainty ahead. “we know it’s never going to be completely clean and maybe it’s not going to be usable for what the viequenses need,” she said.

still, carrasquillo characterizes viequenses as “resistant,” embodied in the peoples’ continued advocacy for their own health and the island’s environment. following the clean up of munitions around the island, she hopes to see the island begin to restore its emotional and mental wellness through strengthening their relationship with the land stating, “if we can heal our land little piece by little piece so we can also be healthy, maybe we can help vieques recover.”

the d.c. climate rally “every day counts,” was hosted in collaboration with more than 30 climate advocacy groups. attendees held signs such as “stop oil now,” “green new deal now,” and “off fossil fuels,” while chanting “yolo joe” and “climate justice now.” speakers urged president joe biden to enforce stricter climate regulations and pardon climate activists — and to do it now.

acting at an inflection point

keanu arpels-josiah, a youth organizer with fridays for future nyc, the group founded by greta thunberg in 2018, urged the crowd to demand actions like designating federal lands as off-limits for drilling, canceling new oil and gas projects, and reallocating mass transit funding from the ira and bipartisan infrastructure law. 

hours after the 2024 presidential election was called for donald trump, the biden administration announced limitations to oil drilling in alaska’s arctic national wildlife refuge. although the leasing of land in the refuge for oil is mandated under a 2017 law, signed by then-president trump, biden’s outgoing government moved to lease the bare minimum amount of land before the deadline of the end of the year.

but protestors at sunday’s rally remained anxious about the signals from the incoming administration.

arpels-josiah criticized trump’s nomination of chris wright, an oil and gas executive, to lead the department of energy, calling him a “fossil fuel ceo.” he also condemned trump’s choice for epa administrator, former new york republican representative lee zeldin, describing him as a “deregulatory champion” whose plans would “tear apart” the future of the planet.  

“that ain’t right,” arpels-josiah said. “that’s not the future we deserve.”

in a post on x, wright has defended his appointment to lead the department of energy, claiming he would “better human lives” by ensuring energy is “affordable, reliable, and secure.” in a video posted on linkedin, wright denied climate change: “there is no climate crisis and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either.” 

zeldin, trump’s pick for epa administrator, pledged in a post on x to restore “energy dominance” while ensuring access to clean air and water. he also criticized biden for canceling the keystone xl pipeline, a proposed extension of an oil pipeline system running between canada and the united states.

trump, through his agenda47 and the republican national committee platforms, has pledged to undo biden’s climate policies. his plans include withdrawing from the paris climate accords again, restarting oil production in recently restricted areas, and pulling away funding from the inflation reduction act. 

charting the path forward

keya chatterjee, executive director of the us climate action network, also spoke at the rally. she warned attendees against participating in “anticipatory obedience,” which she described as abandoning the fight against climate change out of fear that a second trump administration will roll back regulations. 

“we are not going to anticipate in fear and not do things,” chatterjee said. “we’re going to live big and we’re going to do big.” 

among the rally participants, mechanical engineer nick tatnall, 29, said trump’s appointments reflect his self-serving interests. tatnall’s own passion for the environment was sparked by visiting national parks, and he expressed concerns that a second trump administration will weaken regulations and expand drilling on public lands.

“i just hope the next four years are not as bad as we think they will be,” he said.

julia barnes, 30, a podcast producer, said she had hoped vice president kamala harris would win the election but was not surprised by trump’s victory. barnes criticized trump’s track record on the environment. 

“climate is incredibly low on his agenda,” she said, adding that her biggest fear is seeing no progress on climate issues for another four years.

organizers said that through the event more than 470 people signed up to participate in training, movement-building efforts, and continued organizing over the next 60 days, with plans to sustain their actions through trump’s inauguration.

the policy and advocacy subcommittee has decided to pursue a year-long project on equitable land use in d.c.’s waste infrastructure. this project will further focus on waste systems in d.c., looking at the distribution of waste facilities and practices over the eight d.c. wards. the team is currently in the process of gathering further background information on the history of waste in d.c., current procedures, and the different stakeholders involved. they are hoping to combat the discrepancies in this system that disproportionately affects poorer neighborhoods in d.c.. ejan’s co-presidents kaitlyn gang and jonathan lippolis spoke on the importance of advocating for the environment in the political sphere.

ejan is a relatively new organization at gw. “it’s kind of a complicated story, originally ejan was started in 2020 by a group of students,” lippolis said. “they came into the first year with the idea of having subcommittees, i think that was kind of from the jump, and then that first e-board came about and founded ejan.” after the original e-board graduated, gang and lippolis continued the club with the rest of the subcommittees.

gang and lippolis share a strong passion for environmental advocacy. “coming into gw i was undecided, i didn’t know what i wanted to do, i was actually more interested in stem before this, like biology. then i took the society and environment class and just loved it,” gang explained. “that entire class i feel like really made me fall in love with environmental studies which is why i ended up choosing the environmental studies major.” gang is also a political science major at gw, making a policy and advocacy subcommittee perfect for her skillset. lippolis first became interested in ejan out of a desire to participate in climate groups. “i wanted to get involved in climate related issues and movements.”

senegal at a crossroads: economic prosperity or climate protection? 

“in electing me, the people of senegal have decided on a break with the past,” said bassirou diomaye faye in the first interview after his election as the president of the small but geostrategically important nation in western africa. 

in the midst of the “free sudan” and “free congo” movements, an amplified focus on african struggles has echoed through the american and european publics. meanwhile, senegal has also had a glimmer of hope to remedy some of the problems that have burdened its people in recent decades. 

in 2023, the country’s youth mobilized in protests aimed at opposing the efforts of then-president macky sall to stay in power for longer than two mandates, and in 2024 the country elected its youngest president to date, diomaye faye, as part of a leftist movement that promises to eradicate corruption and increase economic justice. 

however, one particular dilemma has arisen: is the move toward more progressive economic policies harmful to the environment? or must a break from the past be accompanied by environmentalism? 

such questions have become pressing particularly as the new administration has promised to begin working with australia’s woodside lng, a liquified natural gas company and a large contributor to fossil fuel pollution, to ensure that senegal’s natural resources are utilized to increase the nation’s prosperity. 

pollution is a persistent problem

long before the election of diomaye faye, pollution has been a problem, especially in the capital city of dakar. walking through dakar, one may walk past market stands full of fruits and vegetables, bustling streets filled with people proudly donning traditional clothing, and speedy motorcycles zooming through the busy traffic. 

but exploring the city quickly turns painful due to the immense amount of smog generated by second-hand cars brought from european countries and burning trash. in 2019, prior to the pandemic, bbc reported that air pollution levels were exceeding by more than seven times the world health organization’s limits of particulate matter (pm), and according to the united nations environment programme the situation has only worsened since.

with the capital city of dakar already struggling with decreasing air quality, what do people in senegal have to say about the choice between progress in the western sense and the promise of additional revenue versus the need to preserve the peoples’ and climate’s health? 

kéba djibril mané, who teaches french, wolof, and several other languages spoken in africa to foreign students affiliated with the peace corps and additional international programs in the city of dakar, said he is appalled about the pollution situation in senegal.  

“pollution has reached an extraordinary level,” he said. “i know many people who have health problems because of pollution. and this pollution is largely due to cars. you wait for a taxi in the street. a car passes, but there is smoke. everyone is affected.” 

a choice between health and opportunity

beyond his passion for languages, djibril mané is also interested in politics because he has seen the effects pollution can have on health and wants to see this issue being addressed effectively by the country’s leaders. his sister-in-law, the wife of his older brother, became sick from the air pollution in dakar. because she developed a respiratory disease, he said, her family had to move to a rural area where there are fewer economic opportunities but the air is cleaner.

stories like that of djibril mané’s sister-in-law are common in dakar. in an article published in the new york times in 2019,  the chief of the pulmonology unit at a hospital in the capital of senegal was quoted stating that asthma is one of the main childhood diseases in the city and that over a third of the city’s population has some form of lung disease. 

moreover, according to an article published in the journal of pulmonary and respiratory medicine in 2019, there is a direct correlation between the poor air quality and the prevalence of respiratory manifestation in dakar. 

specifically, during a six year period (2011 to 2016), nearly 350,000 patients in dakar were treated for respiratory symptoms, which gradually increased over time. the manifestation of both upper and lower respiratory diseases was strongly correlated with exposure to sulfur dioxide (so2) and nitrogen dioxide (no2). due to the poor quality of the air in dakar, children and adults were likely to not only contract a range of respiratory illnesses, from cough and acute respiratory infection to asthma, bronchitis, and angina, but also to have persistent forms of such diseases and recurrent outbreaks.

mask up to protect against (covid) toxic air quality

according to djibril mané, pollution has become such a prevalent issue that many have realized the masks of the covid era should be worn all year around for protection not against viruses but against the toxic substances in the air. 

“you have to hide your face in your sleeve, we cover our faces like that after about a minute on the street. even today, there are people who wear masks,” he said. “now, people are used to the masks because of covid, and covid came and went, but people have continued to wear masks. i have. if you ask why you want to put on the mask again, it is very useful, not only to protect yourself against covid, but for dust, pollution in general during the day. when i go to town, there are too much dust, fumes, toxic gases, etc.”

djibril mané said he is aware that second-hand cars constitute one of the biggest sources of pollution in senegal and overall in africa. he also knows a key reason for this pollution is that european nations such as france impose bans on older cars, but that countries in africa then import those refurbished cars from europe. 

“it’s not just cars by the way, it’s a lot of things. many things are imported second-hand, there are tvs like that, large or small. there are refrigerators and there are gas stoves and other materials which are not within the environmental standards at the international level, they are prohibited for use in europe,” he said. “when they can no longer use them in france, they say ok, we cannot use them in france, but we will use them among africans.”

“not good for health. what should we do instead of destroying them? recycle them?” djibril mané said.

“there is the buñuul. it means black in wolof. this is what french people call africans pejoratively. he’s a wolof. it is the only wolof word that is in the french lexicon.”

“france has the right to choose that it needs good health for its population and it needs a good environment for its population. but africa doesn’t have that right. this is the inhumanity, the lack of humanism, of neocolonialism.”

while djibril mané is not opposed to developing new economic opportunities such as those related to natural gas, he thinks the association with western companies for such endeavors will not lead to success. he said he views western countries and companies as entities that seek to keep africa in poverty and africans marred by disease both by exporting used products to africa and by exploiting africa’s natural resources.

‘everything they do on other continents, they don’t do in africa the same’

“unfortunately, western policy toward africa is much more based on racism, because often everything they do on other continents, they don’t do in africa the same,” he said. 

el hadji faly, a college student who is interested in the betterment of african youth, mental health, and environmental action, and who published the book therapy is banned in africa, is somewhat more optimistic about environmental aspects in senegal. 

in high school, hadji faly had the opportunity to live and learn in the united states for a year and to compare the environmental situation in american and african settings. moreover, in 2023, to continue his studies during the political protests, he transferred from a university in senegal to a university in rwanda, which allowed him to consider how pollution fares across african countries. hadji faly thinks there are both challenges and opportunities in regards to environmental issues in senegal. 

hadji faly acknowledges the negative impact that pollution has long had in dakar. 

“yeah, it was definitely a problem because i have allergies, unfortunately. so when i was living in dakar, it was really tough sometimes because of all the smoke coming from the cars and the buses. it really affected my health and wellbeing,” he said.

dakar’s all electric bus fleet 

however, hadji faly also feels that pollution in dakar has come down a little since the introduction of electric buses. the city “just got a bunch of electric buses, but the old ones are still in use,” he said. “if we could get rid of the old ones and keep the electric ones, it would be really good for the environment. i guess it’s a process, but we can get there.”

in march 2024, dakar launched its bus rapid transit (brt) system which the administration claims to be leading the way for african cities. it is a nearly 20-kilometer (approximately 12.5-mile), fully electric bus system that according to the institute for transportation and development policy in dakar is expected to carry 300,000 passengers a day, reduce travel time per person to nearly half, and shift toward zero emission urban transport. with access to public transit, officials hope residents of dakar will use private vehicles less and thus contribute to the improvement of air quality. 

djibril mané agrees that electric buses provide some relief from pollutants, but he also thinks it is too little, too late. 

“this is precisely the problem. we are in the 21st century. those are tools that existed in other countries more than 20 years ago,” he said. 

in his view, senegal should be at the forefront of environmental innovation, but western european countries are not allowing african countries to develop and adopt new technologies at the pace needed to mitigate environmental issues while protecting valuable resources. 

djibril mané points out that  the contracts were actually signed under macky sall regime, and those contracts are disastrous for senegal because the vehicles are imported at high prices, with requirements to be repaired in western european countries, but without contribution from senegalese workers. 

djibril mané particularly fears the lobbying power regarding such economic advancements that disregard local needs of the economic community of west african states (ecowas). 

“we have to be sincere. we africans must know. we know it, the majority know it,” he said. “but there are always lobbies that are there, which do not want the people to follow these ideas,” he said. 

neocolonialism by any other name

“ecowas is not there for the interest of africans. ecowas is there to obey the orders of the settlers and continue to be the long arm, as we call it, of neocolonialism.” 

both djibril mané and el hadji faly believe that the new leadership of senegal will try to provide real solutions for both economic justice and environmental protection. according to djibril mané, the political movement of the new president resonated with youth because of the message “we are poor today, but in reality, we should not not be poor because we have mineral resources, we have human resources, the right people. if we are still poor, it is because a small group of people take the wealth of the country.” 

this movement now has a mandate to address economic issues. one of the critical challenges for the new administration will be to pay attention to justice for those who have been underprivileged while also maintaining mindfulness for environmental aspects. 

elsa park, a u.s. teen who spent 10 months in senegal during the 2023-2024 school year through the u.s. department of state’s kennedy-lugar yes abroad program, agrees that there are opportunities as well as challenges in regard to balancing the need for economic development with mindfulness for environmental action. during her stay in senegal, she saw change as the regime of macky sall was replaced by the new administration of bassirou diomaye faye. high school students were urged to spend multiple saturdays cleaning up their schools and to also participate in cleanups in the city, in their neighborhoods, and on beaches. “for young people, it was nice to feel that you were making a difference,” she said. 

under the new administration of senegal, additional environmental action initiatives have been started. specifically, $5.5 million will be dedicated to promoting environmental health. this will be achieved by reducing the release of unintentional persistent organic pollutants (upops) and toxic chemicals as well as establishing laws for the rational management of urban waste, a major contributor to harmful particle releases. moreover, senegal’s national waste management unit in collaboration with other agencies has installed 18 standardized collection points where communities can deposit their waste.

the united states has taken an interest in collaborating with senegal’s new administration. in july, deputy secretary of state kurt campbell traveled to senegal and met with president diomaye faye and entrepreneurs. campbell highlighted the two nations’ shared dedication to good governance. he announced u.s. investments in senegal’s economy, including the millennium challenge corporation’s $550 million power compact to increase energy access solutions can boost economic growth and help address environmental challenges.

while concerns remain about the government’s collaborations with highly polluting organizations such as australia’s woodside lng, senegalese youth have found grounds to believe that it is possible to increase the prosperity of regular people while also engaging in good stewardship of the environment. 

said hadji faly: “i think we just need good leaders, some people who are ethical and who fight here for the population, not only for themselves.”

take a moment to envision an alternate reality that encapsulates the past while imagining the future. personally, when i see collective and community controlled food systems, i see happy, healthy people who can cultivate and harvest food on a local level that works in alignment to the natural world, rather than against it. indigenous communities around the world have been engaging with their food systems in this way since time immemorial and continue to do so through the passing of intergenerational knowledge.

as indigenous communities in north america are sovereign nations existing within a settler colonial nation, their fight to enact food sovereignty has been and continues to be ongoing. food sovereignty can be described as the “right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.” 

while attending the united nations world food forum (wff) at the food and agriculture organization (fao) headquarters in rome, italy, i had the immense honor of attending a session called, “safeguarding indigenous people’s food systems for better nutrition.” the session brought together three indigenous panelists from around the world to talk about their efforts and experiences in enacting food sovereignty within their own communities.

after the session, i was able to meet daryl kootenay, the global indigenous youth caucus focal point for fao, to learn more about his specific community’s food sovereignty practices and how it ties them to their place of being, fosters nutritional practices, and overall brings people together through connection to food.

daryl kootenay and his food sovereignty efforts

kootenay is from the iyarhe nakoda nation in southern alberta, a part of treaty 7 territory, and is also a part of the navajo nation in new mexico. he is a land based educator, a singer, dancer, culture keeper, husband, father and so much more. as he states, “i hold many different roles. i teach as a faculty member at the university of calgary and the banff centre for indigenous leadership. i co-founded a nakoda youth council that we take annually to the un permanent forum on indigenous issues, and i’m also the co-executive director for the howl experience.” 

kootenay began his introduction with an explanation of the people and places he comes from. this is very common in indigenous communities, as doing so honors relationships to the people and places that make someone who they are. 

the iyarhe nakoda, or stoney nakoda, communities are the original “peoples of mountains.” “iyarhe nakota, we’re mountain people and are well known for big game harvesting,” kootenay said. elk meat is one of the many indigenous game foods that kootenay specifically relates to and educates others on. part of his role as an educator is to engage both indigenous and non-indigenous folks in food sovereignty. he does that by coordinating camps as a part of the howl experience, as he knows it takes collective community efforts to successfully accomplish these types of traditional activities.

land dispossession and conservation practices as a challenge for food sovereignty

due to settler colonial violence, such as forced removal of indigenous people from their homelands, enacting food sovereignty has been no easy feat. one reason that indigenous peoples, like daryl’s community of the iyarhe nakoda nation, have been forcibly removed is through the creation of parks canada. the creation of banff national park led to the removal of stoney nakoda from their homeland, in turn causing disruption to their ways of being and traditional practices of hunting and gathering.

there is a distinct difference between indigenous communities and settler societies, and the ways in which each believes people should interact with plants, animals, and other non-human beings. the conservation method of parks canada is rooted in the belief that nature should be untouched and exists separate from humans, whereas indigenous communities believe in reciprocal and respectful interactions with their environment. this belief is central to the ways in which food sovereignty practices are carried out. 

these ideas are spoken of in an article that highlights the voice of a nakoda elder, sykes powderface. powderface declares that, “it denied our ancestors from accessing an area that has sustained who we were from time immemorial… the so-called conservation/preservation, particularly for wildlife, what does it mean? it means something different to us than the western world. to the western world it means money, to us a belly full. that’s what it means.”

indigenous people and foodways are resilient

despite colonial systems working against indigenous peoples’ efforts to maintain food sovereignty and community connections to land, indigenous people and their foodways continue to thrive. creating spaces where people can connect to their food on a deeper level is one way this is done, but also by using intergenerational knowledge to carry forth ways of being into the future.

kootenay spoke about recreating a type of learning environment where knowledge that’s shared is based off of the way stoney people operated their harvest camps in the past. this type of knowledge is based on long-standing connection to a place. indigenous knowledge itself is scientific and the ways of knowing are created through the lived experience.

this is further described in a journal which states, “traditional foodways are based on an intimate and spiritual connection to the land and entail a reciprocal relationship that must be actively maintained… indigenous knowledge derives from traditional teaching, empirical observation, and spiritual insight.”

none of this work could be done without the head and the heart. while at the wff, kootenay commented on how he notices that in these spaces there is a lack of people leading with their hearts. he beautifully describes, “i think that’s primarily the main cause for how things are taking the wrong turn today, because there’s a lot of policy, there’s a lot of academia that requires a lot of your brain and your head and lack of love.”

kootenay was given a native american name, wocantognake itancan, which is lakota for “the one that leads with his heart”, and as he states, that is exactly as he tries to do while engaging internationally and within his local community. the wff was about bringing people together for their love and knowledge of foods. kootenay’s food sovereignty efforts and his role as an educator really embody the goals of what wff is all about.

to read the full story, click on the presentation below.

“i am the grocery store,” said hall, who sells his products on top of folding tables and from his truck at a discounted price on the corner of south capitol st. sw and brandywine st. se every afternoon.

hall works in a neighborhood that is considered a food desert. the closure of good food market in november 2022, just one year after opening, brought residents of anacostia and congress heights back to having slim pickings. the grocery stores giant and safeway, on alabama ave. se, are the only full-service stores in the surrounding area. for some people in these neighborhoods, the trip to either store could be at least a 20-minute bus ride.

according to capital area food bank’s hunger heat map, there are 2,431 estimated food insecure households in this area – which is 98% higher than in the rest of the dmv. there are approximately 3,843 food insecure adults, according to their data.

though hall does not sell perishable food, members of the community said he can get them these items when necessary.

“terry’s been helping me every single day. he helped me not steal from people and if i need anything he helps me, if it comes down to food, clothing or anything. he helps me and he helps this community a lot,” said damontre long, a young man who lives right around hall’s store. “i set up stuff for him and he gives me jobs to keep me out of trouble.”

long is not the only young member of the community positively impacted by hall. jessica jankes, another ward 8 resident, said her 11-year-old daughter worked for hall last summer. “she sold merchandise and talked to customers. she did everything. terry does a lot for the kids and the community.” 

hall also provides incentives for the kids to do well in school. when they come to him with good grades on their report cards, hall gifts them with candy or dollar bills, he said.

“he is a good man. he always has things for my daughter and he’s always helping the kids. if you run out of stuff, he makes sure you get it,” said dechell blackeney, who lives in congress heights and is the mother of a 3-year-old girl whom hall always helps. “last friday, he even had fried fish friday and he cooked and gave to the community.”

hall said he can save people the time and money it takes to pick up a few necessary items.

“i’ve been here in this spot every day for 20 years. i deal with people who really, really need me,” he said. 

he sells a plethora of products, varying from personal hygiene to household cleaning products and even clothing. he takes cash only for payment, he said.

“i come here all the time. sometimes i got to get something and need it right away and i come here instead of the grocery store,” said violet council, a member of the congress heights community. “you don’t got to take bus after bus after bus. he got all the stuff right here.”

according to hall, his only goal is to give back to this community, where he grew up and still lives. however, he has also faced some difficulties. he said his truck with thousands of dollars worth of products was once stolen and that some people have tried to take advantage of him and his store, but that is not enough to stop him.  

hall said he buys the products from large, full-service stores in either virginia or the district. he said he purchases them with the money he has saved and invested over the years from working several jobs simultaneously, in addition to his social security income and donations.

“i just keep turning my money over and over again. but some people donate, which is really helpful, because i lower my price to make products affordable here in the community,” hall said.

donations and visitors are welcomed by hall. to donate, get in touch with hall’s assistant, jessica, at 202-892-9305.

the farm’s growing season lasts from march to october, during which the space is open and hosts a plethora of health and wellness activities for the community, said charles rominiyi, the well’s program manager.

according to dc greens, a nonprofit organization that works to advance health equity and build a more resilient food system, the well harvested more than 4,000 pounds of fresh produce for the local community in 2023.

community members are allowed to plant and pick produce during the well’s hours of operation.

breaking new ground

dc greens opened the well in june 2022. “it was really a collaboration by community members, government agencies, and nonprofit agencies who dreamt of a space where community members could come and reconnect with nature, the land, and take wellness classes,” rominiyi said.

washington, d.c.’s ward 8 councilmember trayon white was one of the well’s largest donors, rominiyi said.

councilmember white said he has been working on ways to curb food insecurity in anacostia and the well was a way of doing that.

“we’re looking to bring in more grocery options to the ward, especially healthy grocery options, but it’s becoming tougher. we put a lot of energy, in the last couple of years, into the well at oxon run, a state-of-the-art community farm. it’s probably one of the biggest community farms in the city and in ward 8,” white said.  

cultivating community

this year, march 18 marked the well’s opening week, for which there were several on-site events. there was a seed giveaway, a “plant a seedling” workshop, a senior lunch, tours of the well and a community volunteering day — all shared with the community through the dc greens newsletter.

rominiyi said the events had a great turnout, with attendance varying from 20 to 50 people per event. “opening week was great. it’s really when we can get everyone excited and let the community know about all our plans for the year. we think it was a great success,” rominiyi said.

when entering the well, people are greeted by mimi the tree, which stands as a witness to the success of the community through the years, even in the face of adversity, rominiyi said. when the land was being excavated, the original plans were to cut the tree down. however, community members wanted to preserve this hundred-year-old sycamore oak tree as a reminder of how far the well has come, rominiyi said.

“we ask the community what we should grow, and we grow what they ask us to,” rominiyi said.

greatness on the horizon

according to the well’s farm manager, kenneth bridgers, the farm has eight growing fields scattered across the space which grow various foods such as bok choy and kale in the spring, strawberries and figs in the summer, and swiss chard, and snap peas throughout the year, among other crops. 

most of the seeds are provided by johnny’s seeds, a national seed provider, but members of the community can also drop off seeds at the farm’s seed exchange bench, rominiyi said.

the well is not the only community farm in anacostia, according to rominiyi. however, what makes the well unique is that the staff also conducts wellness and peace programs, which engages the community in several ways, such as in the youth section of the farm, rominiyi said.

“we partner with the green scheme, which brings young people to the well to use the youth garden beds, learn about environmental literacy, environmental sustainability and environmental justice,” rominiyi said.

another unique aspect of the well is the programming pavilion, the structure of which allows for rainwater collection during the off season. the staff treats this rainwater and uses it to water plants in the greenhouse when the well is closed to the public, rominiyi said.

“i’ve been here since the start and we’ve seen tremendous growth in engagement. we can’t wait for all the great things that are happening this season,” said bridgers.

the experience led me to reflect on the opportunities i’ve had to create strong bonds with nature and the cultural heritage of mauritius, my home. but in this rapidly changing world, new technological factors like increased screen time threaten the relationship this generation of children have with the world around them.

as i return home to mauritius, this storymap outlines my plan to reconnect young people with my island’s magnificent natural environment and the stories passed down from older generations. but this is just the beginning.

the storymap below offers a glimpse into how the vision for protecting these invaluable parts of our identity first took shape in my mind. but the true journey lies ahead — creating a lasting space for youth to become stewards of their environment and culture. it’s a movement to ensure future generations cherish and safeguard the heritage that defines us.

to continue reading, click on the full story below!

this story was supported by the planet forward experiential learning fund.