Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Afia Walking Tree. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Afia, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
I am a survivor of sexual gender based violence which started very early in my childhood. Negative self-esteem plagued me and I had a stutter, constantly laughed and failed in school. My inner child was very connected to dirt. I would find myself eating dirt and would feel grounded. Other than that, I really wanted to change. I became committed to my wellness and to finding and being around people who would raise my vibration and also raise by expectations of myself. My most impactful mentor, Jules, was instrumental in helping me shed the shell of low self-esteem. She shared with me emotionally centered goal tending for my heart, mind, spirit, body, and finances. She shaped my world with a mentorship that went on for 10 plus years until her passing. She saw me, she saw my potential. I feel clear that while one is responsible for raising their own vibration, when intergenerational trauma isat the core of one’s low self-esteem, its critical to be seen by someon who lifts you up. Jules challenged me to take bigger steps, and sometimes leap into my luminous confidence. The power of the Afrakan drum gave me wings to begin to feel body autonomy, as when I played everyone heard my sound. I used the drum to free me in many ways, to access my ancestral line, and to explore somatic practices. The drum gave me a window into a depthful creativity that just continues to expand and explode into a fulfilling life, satisfaction in my daily affairs, and a positive attitude towards the art of attracting my desires by doing less and being more. Confidence can vary, however my self-esteem is about how I see myself and who I am growing into.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
WHY WAS OUR GROUP FORMED: Solidarity Yaad has evolved into its current iteration from breakthrough healing justice interventions in Jamaica and the Caribbean region over the last decade. Our team has experienced various forms of violence and draws on the vast experience that exists within our collective to offer support to our wider community that is also experiencing significant violence.
Solidarity Yaad brings gender expansive women and LGBTQI Jamaican survivors/victims of gender based violence together to discover embodied healing justice and wellness care practices that transform the impacts of intergenerational trauma. Our organization is known for our framework of disrupting gender based violence in Jamaica and the Caribbean with our unique hands-on somatic and restorative approaches. We amplify indigenous connections to sea, land, and our bodies, offer psychosocial support, prioritize food as our medicine, and curate sacred sanctuaries that offer brave spaces where we transform trauma and grief into power and purpose.
Our Mission:
We are an intentional learning community that works towards eliminating gender based violence through the cultivation and promotion of and transition to regenerative technologies and practices. We center care and harmonious relations for BIPOC women, girls, LGBTQI+, and gender expansive people towards:
Climate Resilience
Food Security
Economic Advancement Resourcing
Healing Justice
Solidarity Yaad International is more than a farm. We are cultivating the consciousness of individuals, organizations, movement leaders, and farmers to address the intersections of gender justice, collective care, indigeniety, healing justice, climate resilience, food security, and economic justice. Our organization is the continuation of a vision that began in 1990 by artivist Afia Walking Tree.
In January 2024, we will host our first Solidarity ROOTS Jamaica: a 114 hour permaculture design certification course collaboration with School of Earth Medicine in permaculture and agroforestry to combat food insecurity and climate change by building organic food systems with regenerative methods that heal communities. During this course, participants will learn strategies to Reclaim the Origins Of Traditional Sustainability (ROOTS) which emphasises indigenous sustainability methods, the multicultural origins of permaculture concepts, hands-on experiential learning methods, and sensitivity to the local forest ecology of Jamaica. We are reclaiming holistic, regenerative land stewardship, and healing our collective spirits. The training will run in camp from January 12-26, 2024 and we hope to offer the course to 30 women farmers. Everyone will receive a course handbook, full catering, access to course resources, shared camp site, transportation, and a small stipend and attend the full course in order to be certified. To find out more about the course go to ROOTSPDC.com
Complete our online application:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfaLpKZ25HK4gYTuTQQSTlQqQm_RNM9qYleuqcVhANMbfN2KQ/viewform
check out our @solidarityfarmsja | Linktree
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Gratitude for all lessons: The best and worst of times are often lessons teaching us what we need to learn still. Giving thanks for all that convenes before us to breathe and have life is a daily practice that is not to be missed. The more gratitude I can feel in my body, heart, and mind, the more generosity comes my way.
2. Honorable reciprocation: Instead of focussing on what I’m gonna get, or what is owed to me, or why I don’t have what i want or need… Focus on finding ways to give without needing to get (in that moment), and trust that the yoniverse already is aligning for reciprocation… and receiving.
3. Kindness and Compassion are a two for one! They are inseparable. Kindness to self is first and foremost… Compassion for self is first. From here all kinds of possibilities can exist.
4. Practice practice practice!!!
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
Step 1: recognize that i am overwhelmed!!! Then I check in to what is causing the overwhelm. I also feel where in my body is affected. Then notice all the feelings coming up. I often stop whatever I am doing. Breathe. Go spiritually wash/cleanse my Ori (crown) to cool my body down and reduce my heart rate. Water is always good. I dont always want to change what is overwhelming me. Sometimes its an important lesson and is showing me to another lesson. See what else is connected, is it a person, place, thing, food, time, money? I notice that as soon as my bank account reaches a certain level, my body had a pattern of completely stressing. It caused sleep deprivation, addictive vices, and short-temperament, and short-sightedness, and unfocus. Finding my way through how my body response to overwhelm has put me in touch with flight,fight, and freeze emotions. I do a scanof my emotions. I recommend Abraham Hicks Emotional Scale. This helps us get in touch with our inner guidance and then slowly find my way towards the top of the chart. Not always possible in one moment, however, the goal is to find a better feeling place than where I currently am. Then its important to find satisfaction in the smallest movements from overwhelm towards joy. A simple practice that gets so much more welcoming and releases stress response the more we practice looking within. I scream, grunt, cry, shake to free myself of the negative feelings that often overcome me with overwhelm. I am also gentle with myself and love myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.solidarityyaadjamaica.org/
- Instagram: @solidarityfarmsja
- Facebook: @solidarityfarmsja
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7bpev-oJ_xLEwkDVQAPlIQ
- Other: @solidarityfarmsja | Linktree Rising For the Freedom of Love https://youtu.be/k7XdkZWFVZY
Image Credits
SolidarityYaad photo credits: Afia Walking Tree, Afe Abeni, Shawn Goodall
