I was driving home from Home Depot in Newark and I was taking side streets to avoid traffic. When I got to the corner of Morris and 14th Ave, I saw something in the corner of my eye. I glanced over and saw a garden of flowers and a painted wall that looked like a classroom blackboard. At the top it had “Before I Die I Want To:” painted on it. The man behind me honked his horn, because, I was holding up traffic at the stop sign, so I proceeded. As soon as I got through the intersection though, my mind just kept telling me to stop for a better look.
There was a sign there that said "The Ujimaa Garden” As I was walking around taking pictures of the area, I heard a man yell out in the distance, but I couldn't make out what the man was saying. I just assumed he was calling someone across the street or something... A minute or two later an older woman pulled up and started asking me who I was. I told her who I was and handed her my card. I said was driving by and noticed the garden. She started telling me some back story of the garden and in the middle of her doing so, a man walked up and asked if everything was ok? The woman introduced me to the man and said all was well. She told me that man was sort of one of their local self-appointed security. It was the same man who yelled out earlier.
The woman told me that her daughter was the organizer of the garden. The woman gave her daughter: Nicole Singletary a call and a few minutes later she pulled up. She gave me a lot of information about what was done, why it was done, and what's still to come. The area was originally overgrown and filled with junked cars, but in October 2012, children and adults came together and along with some donations from a few local business, they transformed it into the garden you see in the pictures.
The garden has flower beds made with painted tires, benches with phrases like "Pay It Forward" written on them, and a painted brick wall made to resemble a blackboard. At the top of the blackboard it says "Before I Die I Want To:" painted on it. Neighborhood kids know where there's hidden chalk in the garden and they can write on the wall anytime they'd like to. When it rains, the chalk washes away, and they can write more. Now this part of the garden story really reaches out and touches you…
I asked Nicole what kind of things people normally write on the wall? She said it varies. A man once wrote he wanted to get his GED, but one of the very first things written on the wall was by a little girl who wrote that she wanted to rid her neighborhood of addiction.
Nicole told me that plans for the garden will include a section for growing fruits and vegetables. The soil has already been tested and they can apparently grow almost anything they want to there. The food will be distributed amongst the community.
The word "Ujimaa" is KiSwahili for collective work and responsibility. While I was there I couldn't help but feel this is one of those things that make a difference. The community has really put some of their hearts into this garden and it shows. They're very protective of what they've made too. That protection doesn't stop on the citizen level either. Newark Police Dept. is protective of it too. While I was speaking with Nicole there were at least a handful of people that showed up to say hi, but you could really tell they were more interested in who the stranger was. It didn’t stop there though, a Newark police car posted them selves next to us too. Nicole actually walked over to them to let them know everything was alright.
