I saw Flint as a ravished town at first engulfed in weeds. We had to garden a community garden today and help bring the gardens out of the grasses. At first the day seemed bleak as we would have to work in the gardens but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Currently the lead issues and shutting down of important companies as the Buick company in Flint acted as a weed that appeared in the nation’s garden.
On a much smaller scale, we worked in a garden park to remove all of the weeds in these gardens that would become an agora for the community to come together and grow food while giving the youth the options to decide what is best in the city. By this we are helping tackle the problems, the major weeds, of the city with our hands and other tools.
My group initially had been working on a raspberry bush by removing the overgrowth around the bush that was limiting growth. We had done this by cutting down the plants. This was such a fun experience to do with friends while it also helped the community in the process of having a great time. I had seen a toad that jumped out at us and I realized that humans weren’t the only ones affected by this crisis. We helped the community continue their process to attack this huge weed.
Next, I went to go help out in delivering and installing the water barrels we had made yesterday. A woman that we visited said that someone had stolen her soil. This appalled me for it was shocking that someone would steal something as mundane as soil in such a tight community. This reflected the dire problems that took place throughout Flint. These desperate times called for desperate measures. I was happy that I was able to utilize my tech skills from a long time ago as I helped saw and install the water barrel at a house. The happy faces and life stories made me euphoric in a sense as I realized the weed invading the city could in fact be removed if people saw the power of giving.
Lastly, our group came together and helped eliminate as many weeds as we could in the garden as we tried to bring it back to life. We worked quickly and did as much as we could and in the end the product was a much more complete garden with a lot more potential for a great future. I believe that eventually the invasive species and problems of Flint will decay and become beneficial adding to the organic material and the history of the city itself. For right now, the weeds of Flint’s gardens may be removed with a single tool, but the weeds of Flint need the collaboration of all the citizens and the power of giving to motivate them.
– Prasnav Naik
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