Our day of service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a success! Collective Roots hosted a Community Garden Work Day and the Silicon Valley Health Corps had the opportunity to plant fruit trees with the East Palo Alto neighbors.
I am originally from Nicaragua. My parents' house has a backyard with avocado, orange, mango, guava and banana trees. Me and my brother and sisters loved to go to our backyard after school and get our snacks from the trees. It makes me so happy to know that some of the kids in East Palo Alto are going to be be doing the same thing in a couple of years.
Being from another country, I am not familiar with the valley's history and development and this day of service was a amazing learning experience. I got to meet Regina, a lady that has lived in East Palo Alto since 1972. She moved to the area because she wanted to work with a Non-Violence Institute founded by some of Dr. King's followers.
Regina was kind enough to tell us about the place and how it has change since the early '70s, when there still were orchards and she had apple and apricots trees in her garden that died some 10 years ago. During the '80s and '90s East Palo Alto turned into a hotbed for gang activity and she couldn't go out to her backyard after dark without hearing gunfire. She says that now there a lot of families and kids and the violence has significantly decreased. She has a vegetable garden and her neighbors have chickens. They help each other out.
We planted new apple and apricot trees in Regina's backyard and thanked her for sharing her life history with us, East Palo Alto history since 1972. I am very grateful for the knowledge about the region that is now my home and I hope I get the chance to meet and talk to more people like Regina.
Oti.*
I am originally from Nicaragua. My parents' house has a backyard with avocado, orange, mango, guava and banana trees. Me and my brother and sisters loved to go to our backyard after school and get our snacks from the trees. It makes me so happy to know that some of the kids in East Palo Alto are going to be be doing the same thing in a couple of years.
Being from another country, I am not familiar with the valley's history and development and this day of service was a amazing learning experience. I got to meet Regina, a lady that has lived in East Palo Alto since 1972. She moved to the area because she wanted to work with a Non-Violence Institute founded by some of Dr. King's followers.
Regina was kind enough to tell us about the place and how it has change since the early '70s, when there still were orchards and she had apple and apricots trees in her garden that died some 10 years ago. During the '80s and '90s East Palo Alto turned into a hotbed for gang activity and she couldn't go out to her backyard after dark without hearing gunfire. She says that now there a lot of families and kids and the violence has significantly decreased. She has a vegetable garden and her neighbors have chickens. They help each other out.
We planted new apple and apricot trees in Regina's backyard and thanked her for sharing her life history with us, East Palo Alto history since 1972. I am very grateful for the knowledge about the region that is now my home and I hope I get the chance to meet and talk to more people like Regina.
Oti.*
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