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By Sarita Daftary, Project Director
I met Sakinah Abdul back in March 2006 when she was in seventh grade, and starting as a first year intern in our youth program. I remember thinking that she was quiet, serious, and attentive. I didn’t know then that I would get to know Sakinah so well. She stayed with us as an intern from 2006 through 2009, doing all kinds of jobs, including working as a youth assistant leader, as our farm manager intern, and as the assistant market manager. Sakinah not only worked extremely hard with us, but also pursued her other interests as a tutor, a dancer, a knitter, and an entrepreneur. I caught up with her recently while she was on her way back from a college trip to the University of Connecticut. We talked about why she joined ENYF, why she stayed, and what she learned.
Sakinah heard of ENYF for the first time when her science teacher offered her an application. She decided to apply because it seemed like a good way to learn more about the environment, and it reminded her of her grandmother. Though Sakinah was born in Brooklyn, and her parents are not farmers (they are teachers and artists), her grandmother is a farmer in Guyana, growing coconuts, mangoes, callaloo, and many other crops. Since Sakinah was very young she’d been visiting her grandmother and helping out on the farm in the summer. “Since I didn’t get to see her as often, it was like a way of being close to her without actually being there with her” she said.
Even though Sakinah had some experience farming, there was still a lot to learn at ENYF. Remembering her first year, she said “when you all said we work outside rain or shine, you were really serious!” She stuck it out, through the rain and shine, and gained a lot in the process, learning about “different farming techniques like cover cropping, irrigation, growing garlic, and working with David to build a mini-greenhouse.” She had opportunities to sell at the market, meet new people, and travel to new places including upstate farms and even out of state conferences. Sakinah also learned new things about herself, about how to live and eat healthier, and improved her leadership skills. “I learned to be more outspoken,” she said, “I didn’t used to be.”
And even now that Sakinah is moving on to new things, she plans to stay connected. “It was a really friendly and close environment…I would always still come to the market to say hello, even if I wasn’t buying anything.” As Sakinah finishes her junior year at World Academy for Total Community Health (WATCH High School), she is looking forward to “going to college, studying criminology, and just being successful in everything I do.” She also added “[I might] go back to Guyana and live there for a little while…to visit my grandmother and help her out in any way that I can.”
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