COVID-19 VS SANKOFA

Writer Amiyah Stradford has been a youth farmer at Sankofa Community Farm since 2018. She runs the Farm’s blog, which you can read here.

Welcome back to the farm! It’s been a while since we’ve posted, but our youth program is still fully up and running! It’s a little different this summer due to the craziness of COVID-19, but we are managing for sure.

So, as always, we have a group of 24 students from around Southwest Philadelphia who were  selected from over 40 other kids to participate in our paid internship here at Sankofa this summer. However, they are split into two teams (Green & Red) with each team only coming in once a week on separate days. This is to minimize the contact everyone has with each other. Don’t worry though! All the students get to know each other during the zoom calls we have once a week. Students are given their very own cooking kit filled with seasonings, spices, and other ingredients. On the zoom call, our personal chef and farmer, Laquanda Dobson, teaches everyone how to make a specific dish for the week that they can share with their families! We knew that we couldn’t let COVID stop this amazing opportunity, so we had to make some changes around the farm. 

We now have several hand washing stations placed strategically around the farm as well as a couple automatic hand sanitizer booths [see picture on the side]. Everyone is staying safe, but we’re still hard at work! Students and staff must keep a 6 feet distance at all times with their masks up! 

  Speaking of masks, each student was given their very own Sankofa themed mask, as well as one from our sponsors, PYN!

With all that being said, our farm is still flourishing and we’re so excited to see what the rest of this summer holds for us. Take a look at a slideshow of the work we’ve done in the first week!

Support student interns at Sankofa Community Farm! Donate to our Distance Learning fund.